Lost and Gained
by Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet
Summary: Danny's plan backfires when helping his parents to make up for breaking one of their gadgets. Now,with his powers gone,he can barely walk,and he has to rely on Jazz to protect him from vengeful enemies. Fortunately, she's gained some new abilities...
1. Oops

_Rated PG for minor violence and slightly tense scenes._

_Cover Pic:_ www .deviantart .com /deviation /14954115/ (without spaces, just copy and paste)

**LOST AND GAINED**

"Stupid alarm clock," fourteen-year-old Daniel Fenton muttered to himself as he grabbed the last of his books off of the desk, and shoved them into his backpack, just before rushing out of his bedroom door and down the stairs. "I know I set it last night!" He grumbled under his breath. He didn't even have time for breakfast now, and he could smell the remnants of his mother's excellent cooking drifting through the remodeled, three story house. His stomach growled in protest, but he knew that another tardy would land him a detention...and he really didn't want one of those at the moment.

"Morning, honey," His mother smiled happily to him as he rushed by the door, running a hand through his unkempt black hair. As he approached the door, he realized his mother had been working on something, and stopped. Gulping, he backed up and took a second look. She was indeed holding a little, stainless steel grey and neon green (obviously ectoplasmic related)cube delicately, before placing it on a small cake platter.

"It's done!" She smiled at him. "What do you think, Danny?" He raised an eyebrow at it.

"Um...what is it?"

"It's a power enhancer," She patted it gently. "It will increase all of our inventions' capacity output by at least three hundred percent!" Danny hoped that his face didn't go suddenly too pale. His parents, ever obsessed with ghosts, invented items that would supposedly track down and capture ghosts. Unfortunately, they usually didn't work they way they were supposed to.

An excellent example of that, was an incident that took place a few months before. Danny had wondered into a large, failed experiment, accidently setting it off. He hadn't walked away unscathed either. Because of that single experience, he now had the powers of a ghost, and could actually turn into one at will. Unfortunately, with his parents being...well..the way they were, Danny hadn't worked up the courage to tell them, and since he felt no need to do so in a hurry, he saw no reason why his news couldn't wait.

"Um..." he stammered, "good job mom. I'm late. Bye!" She waved after him as he the corner. "Why me!" He groaned to himself, not noticing that he had just walked through the front door until he had reached the bottom step of his front porch. "I hope no one saw that," He gulped and looked around, but no one was in sight.

He checked his watch and continued to walk, rather quickly. He was lucky he'd woken up when he did. He still had time to talk to Tucker and Sam, his two best friends, and the only two people he'd told about his ghost powers. They'd probably have a few ideas as to how he should deal with the power enhancer. He was having a hard enough time dealing with his parents inventions as it was, and it was getting difficult to keep the charade up. But he wanted to tell them before they found out themselves, and he wasn't quite ready for that yet.

He glanced at his watch again, and sighed. He tended to do that when he was worried. Lancer, his Biology and English teacher, was always– Danny stopped mid-thought as he realized that the homework he'd stayed up half the night finishing was sitting at home, on his bed where he'd put it so he wouldn't forget it. "Aw man!" He slapped his forehead and turned to look at the few blocks he'd come. It seemed like miles already, just because it would take him an extra 7 minutes to run back home, and get back to the point where he was right now, and he did not have 7 minutes to spare.

"That's it," he shook a fist at his house, hard to miss because of the large flashing neon signs and satellite equipment (among other things) that looked like they had been pasted on the entire exterior of the house. "I'm flying to school!" Yet another advantage to having ghost powers.

Looking around, he made sure the street was still clear (it was) and jumped behind some garbage cans. Two bright rings appeared around his waist, and spread apart. When they had moved past his head and feet, they disappeared, leaving a white-haired, teenage ghost, dressed in a black suit with white trimmings, and stark green eyes. Still making sure no one saw him, he turned invisible and flew back to his house and phased into his room.

"There you are," he said, grabbing the stack of papers on his bed, and shoving them into his backpack. He was just strapping it back, when a footfall outside the door caused him to whirl around.

"Danny?" His mother's voice asked as the door began to open.

88888

Okay, I've decided to do this at the end of my stories now. ;

Thank you to those of you who say I have talent. I never really thought I did when it came to writing. I just liked to do it. I appreciate your support:glomp:

Second, I don't know how Ch 22 of Mangified reflection had a paragraph repeted 3 times. :Oo: So I would like to thank everyone who pointed that out to me. It is fixed now...or should be.

Now, on the slurred word thing...I seriously think it's a flaw in the program, because it only happens to those parts I edit in here. It's strange. Keep pointing it out, and I'll see if I can fix it though. Thanks.

I would also like to appologize for my atrocious spelling. I promise I run these through MS Word, so it should be decent...sigh

Thank you to my newest reader, Celestial the Hedgird. I really appreciate your input and feedback. I like criticizm, so I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate it.

Thank you to everyone reading this now:hug:


	2. Tucker's idea

Danny Panicked and immediately felt the floor beneath him give way...or more accurately, his intangibility power kicked in, and he literally fell through floorboards. He heard the floor above him creak slightly with his mother's new weight, and he heard her call distantly. He put a hand over his heart, despite the fact that it didn't really beat steadily or quickly like it did when he was in human form. His backpack still hung from his hand, half done-up, and he felt like he had just escaped...he pushed the thought from his mind and started to fly towards the wall. He felt a slight resistance from his backpack, as if it had hit something, and looked down, just in time to see the delicate, green and grey checked cube shatter on the floor.

"NO!" he almost yelled, remembering just in time to keep his voice down. Knowing that any action at this point was useless, he still dove at the floor, hoping beyond hope that he had been mistaken. However, shards and square disks of the broken instrument looked basically the same from a few inches as they did from near the ceiling.

"No...oh no..." he bit his lip, and looked down at his backpack. He almost panicked again when he heard loud footsteps on the stairs. "Ack! DAD!" He hissed to himself. He dove towards the outside wall, and phased through a few seconds before he heard his father enter the room yelling about a ghost. Danny floated just outside the window he'd jammed open a few weeks before. His parents couldn't seem to get around to fixing it, but he felt grateful at the moment as helistened to his mother bound into the room.

"Where's the gho—" Danny cringed, knowing she saw the shattered equipment.

"I'm so sorry, mom," he whispered.

"NOOOO!" Jack yelled suddenly, causing Danny to jump, and drop his backpack. It landed on the ground a few feet below as Jack went on. "We worked on this for weeks! Where is the ghost that did this?" Danny jumped again, reached down for his backpack and took off towards the school. The last thing he needed to have happen was his parents discovering him right about now.

xoxoxoxo

"Danny, you'd probably have to do something about it anyway," Sam was saying as they walked in the hall towards their first class. He'd related the morning's events to his two best friends, Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley as he trudged along. He looked over at the Goth girl.

"Well, yeah," he conceded, "but Dad said they'd been working on it for weeks." He sighed and looked down, "I mean, I shouldn't even have been there to break it."

"You could make it up to them," Tucker asked, looking up from the PDA he'd been tapping. "Then they don't need to know until you tell them your secret, and you don't feel bad."

"Wow, amazing!" Sam gasped.

"What?" Tucker and Danny asked in unison. The black-haired teenager grinned at her male company.

"You came up with a good idea, Tucker," She teased. Tucker just glared at her and began to tap on the PDA again. Danny couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"How do I make it up to them?" Danny asked. Tucker shrugged as they turned onto their home room hall.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "You could–" He cut off as the signal for home-room to begin blasted through the hall.

"We're late!" Sam gasped, and ran the few feet to the door, yanking open the door, with Tucker and Danny on her heels.


	3. Danny's Idea

Danny walked through the front door to his house warily, almost waiting for the attack he knew would come. His parents would be jumping at any chance to get any sort of lead on a ghost...and, as he predicted, as soon as he stepped through the door:

"DANNY!" Jack ran over to his son and grabbed him by the shoulders. "There was a ghost in here! He broke an instrument we were working on! It happened just after you left!"

"Um...Dad...could you let go of me?" Danny grinned, hoping that it didn't look too fake.

"Did you see anything?" Jack asked quickly.

"Um...no." Jack looked completely deflated. He let Danny go and trudged back towards the kitchen and the Lab.

"He says he didn't see anything, Maddie," he called down the stairs, before disappearing. As Danny watched his father's hulking mass vanish around the corner, a wave of guilt washed over him, not just for the accident, but for lying outright.

"Great," He said to himself, "how am I going to make up for this."

"Hey, Danny," Jazz waved at him as she came down the stairs. He threw his backpack against the stairs.

"I hate lying," he said. Jazz stopped and raised an eyebrow again.

"So you broke that thing this morning?" She shook her head and continued down the stairs. "I thought it was just Dad having another accident."

"You heard?" Danny winced at her words.

"No," she said. "But assuming you were just bombarded by dad when you walked in the door like I was, then you obviously lied to him to conceal your identity. That is, of course, assuming that it was you who broke that this morning." Danny just shook his head at her logic.

"Er...yeah, it was. But it was an accident..."

"You do know what that thing can do, right?" Jazz put a hand on her hip.

"Yeah," Danny sighed. "But I still feel bad, and I want to make it up to them." Jazz smiled and put a hand on her brother's shoulder.

"Mom and Dad are lucky to have a son like you, and I'm lucky to have you for a brother." Danny couldn't help but smile up at her.

"Thanks, Jazz." She smiled and watched him return to his feet.

"Look, I'll be in my room doing homework if you need me to help or anything," she smiled proudly down at him and walked into the kitchen. "After I get a snack." Danny grinned after her, before taking a deep breath and descending the stairs into the lab.

"Um," he said when he stepped carefully onto the tile floor, "So...what're you guys working on now?" His parents looked up at him, and then exchanged glances and smiles.

"I'm so glad you're interested, honey," Maddie walked up to him and put an arm around his shoulder, beaming. Danny had to restrain himself from hitting his forehead. What had he gotten himself into?

"Um..." he began, but his father cut him off.

"Since we'll have to start another enhancer from scratch," he held up a metal headband that resembled the now shattered enhancer block, except it had several arms sticking out of it, "We've decided to finish our Fenton Thinker first." Danny couldn't help but make a face. In all honesty, it reminded him of a particularly ugly octopus.

"Oh," he replied uncertainly. "Er...what does it do?"

"It reads the thoughts and feelings of ghosts!" Jack said excitedly, holding it up like some sort of prize.

"And allows the human wearing it to experience those," Maddie grinned. "It will allow us to stop ghosts from acting before they even start!" She walked over to Jack and hugged him. "And it was all your idea." Jack looked down and blushed. Danny just rolled his eyes.

"So, are you sure it works?" he asked, trying not to wince. His parents glanced over at him again.

"Yes!" Jack grinned. Maddie shook her head and returned to her son's side.

"Theoretically, yes. But we don't have a ghost to test it on," she sighed. "Well, not yet." Danny couldn't help but suddenly grinning. Maybe this wouldn't be so impossible after all.

"Um, I was also wondering if you guys were leaving tonight," he grinned, again wishing that he wasn't such a lousy actor. He was sure some of the plotting that was already zapping through his head was visible on his face.

"Why?" his dad leaned towards him, eyeing him carefully.

"Um...because I wanted to know if I could have Sam and Tucker over," he shrugged. "I know you guys don't allow anyone to come over when you're gone, and I wasn't sure if I wanted them to come over now or later."

"Well..." Maddie tapped her lip, "We do need to get a few supplies tonight. So, could you wait until we're back before you invite your friends over?" Danny smiled and nodded hurriedly.

"Yes," he added for emphasis, almost as an after thought.

"Then let's go, Jack!" Maddie grinned and walked up the stairs, waving to her son. Danny followed them, and watched them walk out the door before turning to go upstairs.

"Oh Jazz," he yelled, not even bothering to hide his devious smile.

* * *

Okay, I just had to reply tonight, so feel totaly loved. :D And THANK YOU SOOO MUCH for the reviews peeps:glomp:

I'm really glad those of you who've checked out the pictures have liked them:D I just wish I could put up pics here. shrug Guess that's life though.

Celestial: I feel very honored that you would notice an improvement in my writing. I appreciate that comment, immensely. It's nice to know that other people have the same kind of problems I do with writing. :D

LaBOBuren: Goose. ;) Yes, Tucker had an idea. He does have his moment. :P Thanx for the review. :hug:


	4. Into the lab

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Jazz asked nervously as she followed her brother down the metal stairs to the basement. "I mean, you have no idea how this thing works..." She faded off, awaiting an answer.

"I know," Danny sighed, "but I have to do something. I mean, if I can help them in any way, then I won't feel so bad about breaking their power enhancer thing." He turned and watched her finish making her own way into the dimly-lit lab.

"Well yeah," Jazz sighed, "but Danny, what if something goes wrong? And are you going to honestly tell them that we tested it on you?" Danny turned and walked over to a near-by table.

"No," Danny looked over his shoulder with a wink. "We'll just tell them we saw a ghost while they were gone, and grabbed the first thing we saw," he held up the headband. "And it's the truth too." Jazz made a face of disgust at the fashionless accessory.

"That looks horrible." Danny nodded in agreement.

"Mom and Dad need to come up with something that doesn't look like a dead animal." Jazz giggled at his comment and reached for the headband. Danny gave it to her without hesitation. She checked it over, and slipped the device onto her head, making her look like some sort of fountain. It was all Danny could do to not snicker.

"Ready?" Danny asked. "You're sure it's got batteries?" Jazz looked over at him, offended.

"How dim do you think I am?" Danny shrugged.

"Sorry. I've just had bad experiences with things that have been plugged in and not turned on," he grumbled a few seconds under his breath before smiling athis sisterand sticking his hands in the air. "Goin' Ghost!" Jazz watched in amazement as the two Hula-Hoops of light appeared and separated at an angle instead of their normal horizontal path.

"You like to show off too much." Jazzshook her head. Her now white-haired brother shrugged.

"I just like doing things different, sometimes," he looked around the room, tapping his fingers together nervously. "Look, let's just get this over with. We'll see if this thing works, and then we'll leave."

"Okay," Jazz reached up and flipped it on.

* * *

Sorry it's so short guys. ; Thanx for the reviews. Hope you like this.

Just so you'll know, I'm updating this one more slowly, because I'm almost caught up, and that means I"m going to update even more slowly, so yeah. Just warning you in advance.


	5. Big Problem

"Can you read my thoughts?" Danny asked after a few moments of silence. Jazz shrugged at him, causing the arms to wiggle strangely, and he had to suppress a laugh at the sight.

"Not unless you're thinking about how weird this is," she shrugged. Danny followed her gesture with is own and walked towards her.

"I agree with you, but that's not what I was thinking." He sighed, "Mom and Dad will be so disappointed that this didn't work." Jazz nodded and put her hand up toheadband, searching for the latch to unlock it.

"Wait," Danny grabbed her hand. "Do you hear that?" A low whistle had begun to sound, and quickly rose in pitch.

"It sounds like something's charging." Both Danny and Jazz looked up at the headband, and watched asit's armsslowly turned towards Danny.

"Um..." the white-haired halfa began to back away, "maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all."

"I'm turning it off," Jazz said, reaching for the power switch. She didn't reach it in time. All 7 arms shot a white energy blast at Danny. He tried to dodge, but it caught his foot and there was suddenly a blinding flash, accompanied by the sensation of flying. The last thing Jazz remembered seeing through the lights that obscured her view, before her head struck solid metal, was the form of her already unconscious brother's hand brushing the button that activated the porthole.

xoxoxox

"Oh," Jazz put a hand to her head. "Ow..." she touched the tender bump beginning to form on the back of her skull. Still, besides that, she felt better than she'd ever felt before, like she could run a mile at top speed, and stillhave energy to spare. Shaking the dazed feeling off, she stood and looked around the room. The Fenton Porthole gaped open at her, and she felt her breath catch in her lungs. She had to get that thing off before–

"Well, well, well," a voice from inside the door came at them. Jazz dove for the controls, but reached them only after a large, white figure had floated through the portal, and glanced down at the bundled, unconscious form of her black-haired brother, lying amongst several items he had obviously knocked off when he'd been thrown by the blast. "Looks like I won't have to wait for you to come running back after all." He reached for the limp body, and something inside of Jazz snapped.

"HEY!" She yelled, taking a firm stance."Stay away from my brother!" The door shut behind the ghost, and he turned towards her.

"Listen, girl," he leaned forward, "your brother owes me 1000 years in the ghost penitentiary."

"He does?" Jazz wasn't sure how to take this information, so she regarded him for several seconds before he turned his back on her.

"Yeah. So,I'll be taking him with me now."

"No!" She said, running past him and standing a few inches in front of her brother, guarding him. "I don't know what's going on, but I want to hear his side of the story."

"He's already been judged and sentenced!" Walker growled at the human teen-ager, who refused to back down.

"Jazz?" She heard her brother stir from behind them, and grinned.

"Danny, go ghost!"

"What did you say?" Danny asked weakly.

"You're ghost form!" She hissed, "Now!"

"Oh, right," he agreed. She waited for the light that signaled his change, but nothing came.

"Any day now, Danny," she said, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. Walker smiled.

"I can't!" Danny hissed back. "I can't go ghost!"

* * *

Cheerin4Danny: Well, I'm glad you were able to get over that keyboard problem. :D

Celestial: Kudos means something akin to "congradulations" or "good accomplishment", right?

LaBOBruen: I don't hate you, I just like to torture you by keeping you in suspense. What can I say? If I have an evil side, she comes out when I write. ;) Yes there are going to be pics for this one, but not for a little while. I have two illustrations done already, and that's not including the Title Page illustration.

Kraven the Hunter: Well, I appreciate you reviewing this here too.

mcrystal: yes, that is a rather sad story. I've read it, and I enjoyed it. :D Gave you a few pointers, hope you don't mind. Now, update please. :D

Dark Ninja of Avelon: Your story is next on my 'to read" list. :D Thanx for the review.


	6. Walker's threat

Jazz's blood froze in her veins at her brother's words, and felt her face go several shades paler.

"What?" she squeaked. "What do you mean you can't go ghost!" Walker's grin widened as he continued to move towards them.

"I couldn't have asked for a better situation to finish gathering all of my prison's previous occupants."

"Danny," Jazz said slowly, her loyalty to her brother battling with the fear that had seemed to have taken permanent residence in her chest and stomach. She almost kicked herself for being so rash as to jump into the middle of this without a backup. Danny did stuff like that, not her. "What are you–" She began to ask Walker, but a slap from the specter that sent her careening into far wall cut her off. The world went fuzzy for a few seconds, and she put a hand to her head as the ghost turned his attention back to her brother.

"Jazz," Danny said, suddenly weak. Walker stepped between them, blocking her completely from view. Danny looked up at him shakily.

"You know what, Ghost boy?" Walker's grin never lost a centimeter as he leaned close to Danny. "You're mine now," he chuckled cruelly. Behind him, the red-haired human shook off her daze, and glared over at Walker's back, her aqua eyes flashing bright green for just a second, before she launched herself as quietly as she could at her parent's tool cupboards. "She can't help you now," the ghost gestured behind him, continuing his gloating. "No one can," he concluded, and with that, he reached forward to grab the teen.

"Wanna bet?" The white-clad ghost turned to see a large, torpedo-shaped bazooka, stainless steel and bright green aimed at him from Jasmine Fenton's shoulder. She smiled her own gloat at him as his situation hit him.

"NO!" he jumped to dodge, but not fast enough. Jazz's finger moved, and ectoplasmic goo hit him squarely in the chest, knocking him into the closed door of the Ghost Zone.

"Well, Waker," she grinned, "I'm sending you to back where you came from!" She put her hand down, and slammed her thumb onto the genetically locked red button that activated the Fenton Porthole. Then, she quickly put her hand back on the trigger as the large figure launched himself at her with a growl. He met the second blast of ectoplasmic goo half-way, and was knocked through the black and yellow door, growling at them.

"I'll be waiting right here for you, punk! I'll be here the next time you open this door!" Danny watched through heavy eyelids, barely comprehending the ghost's threat. Jazz set the bazooka down, and walked over to Danny.

"Danny? Are you okay?" As she neared him and knelt down he smiled and opened his eyes wider.

"You sounded like me," he grinned. She returned the smile.

"I did, didn't I?" She sat down, extending one leg, and resting her arm on her other knee. "I guess I've been hanging around you too much, huh?" Danny smiled and shook his head.

"Look," he pushed himself, obviously straining, to his knees, "I have to go talk to Tucker and Sam..." He tried unsuccessfully to stand up. Jazz leaned forward, offering support.

"I don't think so," she moved to her knees, kneeling beside him. "He obviously did something to you, and you need to rest. You can tell them tomorrow."

"But I can't..." he looked up at her, "If I can't go ghost, I have no protection. This town just lost their main protector against ghosts. I have to find out why."

"Danny you need to regain your strength. You won't be able to do anything, even if you do get your powers back, if you can't stand on your own."

"I can stand on my own," Danny tried to push himself to his feet, but staggered and fell. Jazz caught him. "On second thought, rest does sound good." Jazz looked at him again, worried.

"You're agreeing with me?" She bit her lip, "You must really be sick." Danny barely responded, but leaned heavily on her as he tried to stand.

"And help is good," he blurted, when he almost fell again, even with her help. His legs seemed so weak beneath him, that he felt more like some pudding ghost had turned the floor into Jello.

"Come on," Jazz said softly, "Let's get you upstairs." She put his arm around her shoulders, and they began their slow ascent up the stairs.

* * *

Thanx for the well wishes guys. :D I appreciate it, but I woke up sick, and decided to stay home instead. Feel loved.


	7. Sick?

"Hello?" Jazz picked up the telephone the next day as she arrived home from school, skipping some of her after-school activities to check up on Danny, seeing as their parents had gone to some sort of Ghost Hunter's meeting and wouldn't be back until later that night.

"Jazz?" A familiar voice asked over the reciever. Jazz smiled.

"Hey, Sam."

"Hi," Sam sounded a little nervous, but she continued. "Um...Danny wasn't in school today...is he okay?"

"Well," Jazz sighed and pulled up a chair. This would take some explaining. "Well, Mom excused him from school today because he's sick."

"Sick?" Sam repeted, "with what?"

"We don't know," Jazz bit her lip and hesitated before continuing. "It took mom forever to wake him up this morning. She started freaking out after 7 minutes of trying to wake him up without a response. I heard a comotion and and walked in just as he opened his eyes. We were able to talk mom out of taking him to the hospital–"

"What! Why?" Sam interrupted. "Even if they find out he is half ghost, it's better than him dying or something!"

"Sam," Jazz said soothingly, "I know he's your best friend, but calm down, okay. The reason we didn't want her to take him to the hospital is because they probably wouldn't be able to do anything for him."

"How do you know that?" Sam asked, a little more calmly.

"Because he had a run in with a ghost named Walker yesterday," she paused, knowing Sam had probably just lost a few shades of color in her face. 'Wait,' she thought to herself, 'how did I know his name? I've never met the ghost, and Danny never mentioned him...' She brushed the thought from her mind with a shake of her head, and continued. "We think he did something to Danny, because he can barely sit up, let alone stand or walk anywhere."

"Sorry to panic on you like that," Sam said. "Ugh, I just sounded like Tucker." Jazz laughed at her comment. "So, how is he now? Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Well," Jazz looked up, "I was just going to check on him when you called, and I don't think you can do anything until we actually figure out what's going on." Sam hesitated for a minute before answering.

"You know," she said finally, "you sounded like Danny for a minute there." Jazz laughed again.

"Well, he is my brother."

"Yeah," Sam returned the laugh. "Well, have him call me when he wakes up, okay? And Tucker too. We should be on later tonight."

"Okay, I will," she promised. "Later."

"Later," Sam replied. Jazz smiled as she hung up the phone and trudged up the stairs to her sleeping brother's room.

—

"Danny?" Jazz whispered, sticking her head inside the darkened room. A soft groan and some rustling movement answered her. "Hey," she walked in and flipped on the light. Danny looked around groggily, before sitting up to where he leaned on his elbows, and ran a hand through his messy, bed hair.

"What time is it?" he croaked. Jazz sat on the end of his bed, looking at him with sympathy.

"About three-thirty."

"Wow," Danny yawned.

"Do you feel any better?" Danny looked up as his sister addressed him.

"Um..." he put a hand back on his head, "A little, I guess."

"Do you have any idea what that Walker guy did to you?" Danny struggled to sit up fully, all the while, shaking his head.

"No."

"Have your powers come back?" He shrugged and closed his eyes.

"No," he replied finally and glanced down. Jazz realized how sick he looked. His skin looked pale and clammy, while his normally vibrent, blue eyes seemed almost grey. Heavy bags rested under his eyes, and the askew hair didn't really help his look either. His shirt, the same he'd worn the day before, looked wrinkled and used, and his bed cover still covered his pante, but she was sure that he hadn't changed those either.

"How long has it been since you've eaten?" she asked suddenly. Danny scratched his head.

"Um...Mom brought something up–"

"This morning?" Jazz interrupted. Danny nodded. "Yeah, I saw."

"But I fell asleep before I finished it. Just after you left."

"That's it?" Jazz asked. Danny nodded, stifling another yawn. "I'll make you some soup, then." She patted his leg and walked across the room.

"Okay, thanks," he nodded with a smile and watched her walk out of the room. No sooner had she left then he fell back onto his pillow again. "Why am I so tired?" he muttered to himself as the blissful darkness overtook him once again.

* * *

Thanks for all the wishes to get better. I appreciate it. Talking hurts, and my voice is almost completely gone. Result: Writing and Readingmore. ;)

Squeakie: Where did you get your name? It reminds me of some stories my grandfather used to tell me when I was little. :D I'm glad you like the idea. :hug:

Thanks again everyone!


	8. Getting better?

"BEEP!" The loud alarm on the microwave resounded through the kitchen, and Jazz took it out, smiling and humming.

"Hope he doesn't mind Chicken and mushroom..." She shook her head and grabbed a spoon. Then she set it on a tray and was heading out of the kitchen, when the room got suddenly cold, anda bluish mist escaped from her mouth as she breathed out.

"Oh great," she growled. "How is Danny supposed to get better if mom and dad have this place rigged to go cold spontaneously, AGAIN!" Growling, she walked out of the room. She didn't see the green, spectral image chasing a girl down the street outside the kitchen window...

"Danny?" She said as she walked slowly into the room. He lay on the bed, sprawled over his covers, as if he'd just fallen there, and not bothered to move. When she walked up to him, he opened his eyes slowly.

"Hmm?" he pushed himself onto his knees and looked sleepily up at Jazz. "Oh...I must have fallen asleep again." Jazz put her hand on his forehead, but felt nothing out of the usual, except him being a little warm from sleeping.

"Danny, you're really starting to worry me," she shook her head and thrust the tray at him, some of the soup slopped onto the tray, but he accepted it gratefully. "Here," she handed him the glass of juice she had poured earlier. He took it too, and looked up with a smile.

"Thanks." Jazz's look of worry immediately softened as she returned the smile.

"Well, don't thank me just yet," she pulled up a chair and sat by the side of the bed. "I'm not leaving until you eat every last bite." He only smiled and started eating.

It didn't take him long to basically clean the bowl spotless and the juice disappeared almost immediately.

"Wow," he said as he wiped his mouth and handed the dishes back to Jazz. "I was really hungry."

"Apparently," she winked at him.

"I have to go to the bathroom," he pulled himself off of his bed and started towards the door, but Jazz caught his arm.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" She saw him roll his eyes.

"I already feel better. I'll be fine. It's only two doors down the hall anyway." Jazz still looked skeptical, but he smiled and walked out the door before she could say anything. She followed, smiling. Whatever Walker had done seemed to be wearing off already. Now if he could only get his ghost powers back so she didn't have to be there...just in case something did happen to him...

As she tromped down the stairs, her cell phone rang, and she picked it up.

"Hi mom," she said happily.

"Someone's in a good mood," her mother replied. Jazz grinned, despite the fact that her mother couldn't see her.

"Well, Danny's up and walking around," she said. "And he just ate some soup and juice. Looks like he's getting better."

"That's excellent news!" Maddie exclaimed. "That's why I was calling. Your father and I are still at theGhost Hunter's meeting, and I wanted to make sure someone was there with Danny. He hasn't woken up all day."

"Really?" Jazz finished rinsing out the dishes and set them on the counter. "Well, he's doing alright–" A loud thump from above her caused her to stop suddenly.

"Jazz?" Maddie's now worried voice sounded in her ear, but she barely heard it.

"Gotta go, mom," she said hurriedly, "Love you. Bye!" She hung up and shoved her phone into her pocket before dashing to the stairs. She reached for the rail, but must have missed it because she fell face first on the stairs, gaining several bruises. "GRRR!" she growled and pushed herself to her feet, taking the stairs two at a time. She didn't notice her other hand go through the wall either.

* * *

Thanx again for the reviews guys. :D


	9. Or not

Alright, between this one and brainwashed, I only have a few more chapters actually written, and I've been working on Brainwashed...so I hope to get more of this one soon. Sorry for any delays.

Torturing in writing is fun LaBOBruen...no chainsaws please. ;)

* * *

"Danny!" Jazz literally screamed as she reached the landing of the stairway and looked down the hall to see his form limply laying on the floor in front of his door. "DANNY!" She rushed over to him and took his hand. He turned his head and looked at her through heavy eyelids. 

"Guess there was something to worry about after all," he said weakly, and allowed her to help him to his feet. "I'm sure I'll be fine if I just sit down." Jazz didn't argue, but helped him lower himself to his bed, and lean against the wall.

"See," he smiled reassuringly up at her, "I feel better already."

"That's what you said before," she shook her head and sat next to him.

"Well, I've been in bed all day, and I want to do something." Jazz watched with arms ready to shoot out and catch him should he fall, as he reached under his bed and pulled out his lap-top. "Glad Mom and Dad got this for me," he muttered, flipping on the power switch and making sure all of his connections were in place.

Finally, he leaned back against the wall with a sigh, and started hooking up his web-cam.

"Maybe you should just rest for a little longer," Jazz said, unsurely. Danny didn't even look up from the screen as he logged into MSN Messenger.

"It's not like it will wear me out."

"Um..." Danny shook his head and finally looked over at her.

"I'll be careful, I promise." Jazz nodded and sat back against the wall, unable to relax. She hadn't seen anyone faint since Marsha Bullstin had in her third grade class, and she found it unsettling to arrive just after someone had collapsed...especially her little brother.

"Danny! Hey!" Jazz looked over as Sam's pixilated web-cam came up. "Welcome back to the world of the living..." Danny raised an eyebrow at her comment, and she realized what she'd said. "Er...again..." Danny laughed.

"Where's Tucker?" He checked his list again. "Doesn't say he's on."

"He went to dinner a few minutes ago. You just missed him."

"Oh," Danny sighed. "Well, I have to discuss some things with you guys, and I don't know if I'll have enough energy to do it twice." He sighed, "so when he gets back on, so will I."

"Okay," Sam said, "just take it easily." Danny nodded, and leaned back.

"I will." Set the computer aside, and leaned his head on Jazz's shoulder. It was all she could do to not jump in surprised. She just sat there blinking for several minutes while he continued to rest.


	10. New Halfa

"Danny!" Tucker said as soon as he got on about 20 minutes later. "Sam said you were sick! Glad to see you around."

"Er...Thanks Tuck," he glanced over at Jazz and hopped off of the bed. "I feel a lot better than I did this morning."

"So what did Walker do to you?" Sam asked. Danny just shook his head.

"I don't know. I don't remember anything but–"

"Well we have to find out what happened!" Tucker interrupted. "Got to get all of your symptoms–" Sam cut in before he could finish.

"Oh, like they'd have ghost remedies ANYWHERE! I've looked! Most of it's just crap and–"

"Sam! Tuck!" Danny tried unsuccessfully not to scream. They stopped arguing and turned to look at him. "I have a problem!"

"Woah, Danny," Sam cooed as if calming a child, "Calm down. It's not like the whole ghost zone is after you again..." she blinked and looked at him suspiciously, "is it?" She added warily.

"No," Danny put his hand to his head in frustration, "not as far as I know".

"Well, you've beat Walker before."

"Yeah, but then I had my ghost powers," Danny pointed out. Sam and Tucker both stared at him as his words sank in.

"You don't have your ghost powers?" Sam asked, incredulously.

"No," Danny hit his head with his fist, and Jazz put a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"He's right," she said softly, "he can no longer go ghost."

Jazz watched her brother pace around the room, and couldn't help but see how gaunt his face had become. He actually looked like he hadn't slept in days, despite the fact that he had woken up all of four times since yesterday afternoon. He also looked like he'd been through a momentous amount of stress and dread. Was that what it was like to loose who you were? She shuttered and continued to listen as Danny picked up the laptop and started carrying it around the room as he paced, talking to his friends. As she watched him, an idea suddenly came to her.

"You know, Danny," Jazz raised her finger, "we also got zapped by Dad's little invention yesterday too." Danny stopped and glanced bac at her.

"Yeah, we did..."

"What was the machine supposed to do?" Tucker asked, more serious than Jazz could ever remember the teen-ager being before.

"It's supposed to let humans think and feel what a particular ghost is thinking and feeling." Danny explained with a wave of his hand, almost causing his computer to go crashing to the floor.

"So it makes humans telepathic?" Sam asked.

"That's what I figured," Danny said. "But it didn't work, so I don't know why it affected me like it did! It's like I'm not half ghost anymore, but I still feel like I"m only half human! And it could still be something Walker did."

"Let's try a different approach," Sam said suddenly, "What do you feel when you go ghost? How do you do it?" Danny stopped pacing and looked down at the screen. Jazz found it incredulous that he had collapsed on the floor almost half-an-hour earlier.

"Well," he took a deep breath as he thought about it. "I don't know," he finally answered, and began pacing again. "I just do! I tell myself to go ghost...and I do..."

"That simple?" Jazz asked behind him. "Sounds like anyone could do it."

"Yeah, I guess," Danny rolled his eyes at her and turned back to his pacing.

"Even a dweeb like you?" Tucker asked.

"TUCKER!" Sam and Danny both yelled at him. He backed off immediately, and Sam took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down before continuing.

"Well, describe what you feel," she persisted. Danny glanced at the wall and caught sight of his shadow.

"Well..." he faded off. His light wasn't on, and any light shouldn't be coming from behind him... He looked again, but saw no shadow. Shaking his head, he turned around.

"Well..." he began again, but stopped when he saw Jazz standing in front of his bed, where she had been the entire time, and promptly dropped the laptop. It hit the floor with a crash that neither teen really heard as they stared at each other with the same look of utter horror and confusion.

"Danny! Jazz!" Tucker and Sam were yelling at them, but they didn't respond. Danny could only look at his sister as she stood there. Her normally black shirt had turned white, her blue pants had turned maroon, as had her shoes and the band holding back her now blue hair. She blinked her neon green eyes and gulped, recovering first.

"Danny," she said softly, "My hair is blue." He literally saw all of her composure falter, and she grabbed a handful of her hair to thrust at him, as if to confirm what she was seeing. "Tell me," her voice raised, "WHY IS MY HAIR BLUE!"

* * *

Well, that's as far as I've gotten so far, so you guys are all caught up. ;)

LaBOBruen: Chainsaws are bad when they're coming after me. No chainsaws or No story. ;) Besides...torture in writing is fun. ;)

Thanx everyone. REPLY please!


	11. Trying not to Panic

"I-I-I..." Danny stammered, unable to get more words out. Jazz looked like she was about to be sick, almost as sick as her brother looked.

"Oh man," she put her fists to her temples and closed her eyes, willing everything away. "Oh man, oh man, oh man..." she kept moaning over and over again.

"I'm coming over!" they barely registered Sam's loud shout, and Tucker's agreement. They both just stood there, in shock, repeating themselves and stammering for several minutes. The slam of the door downstairs, however forced them out of his trance.

"KIDS! We're home! Is everything okay?" What color had been in Jazz's face left immediately, and Danny's jaw dropped.

"Not now," they both breathed.

"Kids?"

"Danny," Jazz panicked and went to grab him by the shoulders, "What do I– WOAH!" she yelled as she passed right through him, and landed on the floor.

"AAA!" Danny yelped at the unexpected occurrence.

"Ow," Jazz pushed herself onto her knees. "–do?" she finished her previous sentence, sounding miserable and totally unsure of herself, for once.

"Change back!" Danny couldn't take his eyes off of the door and the hurried footsteps on the stairs. "Tell yourself you're human!"

"I'm human!" Jazz repeated immediately, closing her eyes and concentrating. The two blue rings appeared around her waist, and in moments, she had turned back to normal, and not a moment to soon.

WHAM! Maddie threw open the door and rushed in, a look of worry on her face.

"I heard yelling!" she gasped, "are you guys okay?"

"Hey mom," Danny plastered a grin on his face. "Sorry for the scare. Jazz just tripped."

"Yeah," Jazz smiled from the floor, "I'm fine. Sorry." Maddie looked incredibly relieved.

"Good," she smiled down at her raven-haired son. "Well, I'm glad to see you're up and about." She walked over and ruffled his hair. His smile turned into a scowl. He hated it when people did that. "We'll see how you're feeling tomorrow before we send you to school."

"Er," Danny glanced back at Jazz, "okay. Thanks mom."

"Dinner's in an hour," She nodded at the two and walked out of the room. Both teens slumped visibly, their breathing hard and labored.

"Are you always that close to being caught," Jazz asked through her breaths. Danny chuckled mirthlessly.

"Usualy." He sighed and slumped back on his bed, looking as miserable as Jazz felt.

"This is bad," she closed her eyes, and tried to get ahold of the situation. It didn't work very well.

"No Duh," Danny grumbled.

"I..." Jazz looked at her brother. "Look," she said, suddenly taking charge again. "I know you're still sick, and we don't know if you'll get your powers back or not–"

"Probably not," Danny said, his tone extremely pessimistic.

"Well, until we know for sure, or know what to do about it..." she faded off. "Danny?" Danny's sour expression had melted into a look bordering on hopeful, if not happy.

"I could use a break," he said slowly. "I mean, you wouldn't have as hard a time balancing school work..." He looked up at her. "Would you take over for a while?"

"Take over what?" she asked slowly, not liking where this was going.

"Take over my patrol," he sat up and leaned forward eagerly. "If I could get truly get rid of my powers, I would. But it would put other people in danger...they need me. But if someone else could take my place, even if only for a little while..."

"Danny I–" Jazz started.

"Please!" He cut in. She looked down at his dull, blue and pleading eyes, and sighed. "Well, I do seem to have a lot more energy to burn lately," the teen said slowly. "I was up until three last night, woke up at six, and I feel great...well, physically." Danny's look had turned hopeful once again, and she couldn't resist.

"Alright," she said. "Unless we find out that it will be detrimental to you in any way..." He smiled and grabbed her arm, giving it a hug.

"You're the best!" he said. Jazz looked at him, surprised. That was the second time in less than an hour that Danny had shown any affection towards her. She couldn't say that she minded feeling close to her little brother, though. She liked to make friends.

xoxoxox

"Jack?" Maddie said as she walked down the stairs, "Is it just me, or are the kids acting strange?"

"Strangely," Jack corrected. Maddie glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow, and he shrugged. "If they are, it's probably a ghost!" Maddie sighed.

"Come on, Jack," she stepped off the stairs and folded her arms. "We already checked Jazz..." the older woman faded off, and looked back at the stairs just as she heard Danny shout "You're the best!"

"But..." Jack prodded her...both verbally and physically with the fenton fisher, which he'd had in his hands since they'd come home.

"But we haven't checked Danny," she said incredulously. "I didn't think it possible at the time," she tapped her chin thoughtfully, "but all of our equipment point to him. We always thought it was a malfunction," she glanced over at her husband worriedly, "What if it's not?" Jack got a glint in his eyes.

"We have to make sure he's not a ghost," he said with a grin.

"Right!" Maddie said. "To the lab, Jack!" She put her hand in the air, and lead the way to the basement.

* * *

Well, it's a little longer. ; Thanx for the reviews again guys. I love getting them, cratique or no (hint hint...more cratique).


	12. Freedom?

"So..." Jazz said as she took the Fenton Thermos, "I guess I can get started now..." Danny flashed a content smile at her, causing her to sigh. "Well then..." She said as she walked over to the outside wall. "Guess I'd better do the whole ghost thing...er...I'm a ghost?" She looked down, shaking her head as her body transformed. "This is just strange."

"You're telling me," Danny grinned at her from the bed. She hadn't realized how stressed he really had been with all of this. Still, she had a bad feeling about the situation...and she couldn't place what it was, or where it came from.

"Well, I guess I'd better get going," she shook off her thoughts, and looked at the wall, hard. Taking a deep breath, she put her hand on it, and stood there for several seconds, before shifting her weight as if to push something extremely heavy. Finally she turned to Danny, who had been trying to stifle a laugh.

"Okay, so how does the intangibility thing work?" She asked, placing an irritated hand on her hip.

Danny straitened his face with great difficulty, and shrugged. "Parts of me go intangible when I'm worried and scared, or tired and relaxed. I don't really know how to explain it."

"Oh," Jazz bit her lip. "Well, then...I'll try to relax." With that, she took a firm stance and a deep breath. "I'm calm," she said slowly. "Calm, peaceful, and I'mAAA!" She screamed as she suddenly fell through the floor. Danny couldn't help but burst into laughter, and walked over to where only her hand lay visibly, clutching for dear life, on the floor of his room.

"What was that!" his mother called up the stairs.

"Nothing!" He yelled back quickly. "Jazz just fell down again." Jazz glared at him, as she crawled back up through the floor, not trusting herself to float. Finally, she stood before him again.

"Well, I'm doing really well," she said sarcastically as she straitened her hair. 

Danny chuckled. "You'll get the hang of it," he said with a grin. "I know you will." Jazz smiled down at him, and ruffled his hair.

"Thanks, little bro."

He returned the glare she had given him earlier. "I hate it when you do that to my hair."

"It's not like it isn't already messy enough," she laughed and walked over to the wall. This time, when she put her hand up to it, it fell through, disappearing from view. "Well, wish me luck," she said, and jumped through the wall.

xoxoxox

She hovered for several seconds outside the wall, refusing to open her eyes, for fear that she'd find herself planted face fist into the ground...but when no pain came, she slowly peeked through her eyelids, before sighing with relief.

"It worked!" She grinned at herself, and couldn't help but stick a fist in the air in triumph. With that, she concentrated on moving, and soon found herself flying over a breathtaking view of her home town.

xoxoxo

"Good luck," Danny said, mostly to himself. "Are you going to need it." He watched as she hovered outside, cringing, and obviously scared. Of course, she'd already handled things so much better than he did, even now. Maybe this was how things were supposed to work out. 

Through the window, he saw her recover, strike a victorious pose, and fly off.

"FREEDOM!" He said. "I'm free! No more..." He faded off as the room started to get blurry and dizzy. "Maybe not..." he muttered as he fell onto the bed. In moments, he had regained his unconscious state. No one noticed the large figure sneak in and carry the teenager out.


	13. Fight and Flirt

'This is AMAZING', Jazz thought to herself, unable to speak for the breathless view of her home town stretching out below her in the early evening light. She vaguely wondered how she felt like a valve of a adrenaline had been pumped into her veins when she couldn't feel her heart beat, but for a few blissful seconds, she really didn't care. She felt like the world belonged to her, if only for a short while, and it took her almost a half hour before she calmed down enough to start looking around for any ghost activity. She didn't notice the movement of a weapon and a target following her from one of the rooftops below.

"So," she said to herself, "do I just circle around until I find something? Or do I–" A bright red, ectoplasmic blast suddenly hit her, knocking her out of the air with a scream. Still not used to her new state of being, she'd hit the roof of one of the larger buildings before she could go intangible or resume floating.

After a few moments, she sat up with a hand on her head, slightly dazed. "Or do I wait for them to come to me?" she muttered darkly to herself, finishing her earlier thought.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" a harsh, female voice addressed her, causing her eyes to shoot upwards. A figure in a mauve suit and helmet hovered over her on a floating surf-board type vehicle with two rockets strapped to either side. She also had a large weapon set on her shoulder, with a laser set between Jazz's eyes. The new half ghost couldn't help but gasp.

"I...er..." she choked out, "I'm here for a friend. I'm helping him out for a while..." Well, it was true. She considered Danny to be a friend after all...although she didn't know if he reciprocated.

The girl pushed her hover board closer to Jazz, with the weapon still trained on the blue-haired specter. "'He' wouldn't happen to be the ghost boy..." She asked carefully.

"Er..." Jazz searched desperately for something to say. Should she give that kind of information away?

"You know," the other girl prompted, "Inviso-bill...who desperately needs a publicist." Jazz couldn't help but snicker at the comment, and covered her mouth with her hand.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so," she replied, suddenly feeling more welcome with the girl...weapon or not.

The ghost hunter cocked her head. "So you do know him?"

Jazz nodded. "Yeah. He's...a...close friend." The girl contemplated Jazz's words for a few moments before lowering the weapon.

"Well," she sighed, "he did do me a favor a while back, so I guess I can–" A large figure cut her off by ramming into her back, sending her crashing onto the barren rooftop along with her hover board, almost on top of Jazz. "AAAAA!" Both girls screamed as the pink-clad frame crashed. She looked almost as clumsy and unceremonious as Jazz had felt with her own crash earlier.

For the second time that night, Jazz caught her breath as she regarded the large ghost occupying the space where the ghost hunter girl had previously hovered. His skin gleamed like metal, and he had a mane of green fire running down the back of his neck and head that matched his small beard. He looked huge...almost as big as her father, but with more muscle.

"I have you now!" he bellowed in a deep voice, followed by a booming laugh.

"Skulker!" the ghost hunter growled. Jazz was sure if she could see the other's eyes behind the shaded glass on the helmet, she'd see an extreme amount of anger and frustration, not that she blamed her.

"Of course," the metallic ghost grinned menacingly down at the two teens.

"What do you want?" The girl stood defiantly.

Skulker's grin widened. "Why, what I've always wanted...your pelt!" He suddenly produced a large ray gun from somewhere, and aimed it at them.

"Oh, gross!" Jazz said before she could restrain herself. Skulker immediately turned and regarded her with his free hand resting on his chin. Jazz mentally kicked herself. It suddenly occurred to her that when she'd picked up Danny's powers, some personality traits (like talking before thinking) had probably come with them. That worried her for some reason, although she didn't have time to think about it right now.

"Who are you?" Skulker asked. "I haven't seen you around before. Are you another halfa?" Jazz and the ghost hunter exchanged glances before looking back at the ghost.

"A what?" they voiced at the same moment.

Skulker shrugged and waved a hand through the air. "No matter. I shall have you both!"

"Um, no!" The girls said simultaneously, and then looked at each other. Jazz smiled, and felt sure the other was doing the same, even though she couldn't be sure. They thought so alike, that it just seemed...funny.

Just then, an idea popped into her head. 'It might work,' she thought to herself, 'but...oh no...' she shook her head before winking at the other girl. The pink helmet cocked to the side in question as she watched Jazz stand up.

"Now, shall we go?" Skulker had taken out another gun to point at them, when he realized Jazz had moved.

Jazz took a deep breath. 'I can't believe I'm doing this,' she thought to herself, before putting on her best flirting look.

"You know," she said softly, "I love the big, metal muscle look." Skulker looked nothing short of totally shocked. "And the green, flaming hair? Wow," Jazz fanned herself with her hand, using the gesture as a distraction to take out the Fenton Thermos, so only the ghost hunter girl could see it.

"I...er...uh..." Skulker stuttered, obviously not used to this kind of attention. Jazz could hear the ghost hunter snickering behind her, but continued as if she hadn't.

She took a step forward, "You know," she smiled slyly, "You don't always have to threaten or catch someone to get them to go with you." At this, Skulker's eyes widened, and he shut his mouth with a clank. A pleased smile appeared immediately after, and Jazz forced herself to continue forward.

"I'll have to meet you in the Ghost Zone sometime," she said with a slight pout, trying her best to accentuate her thin frame with each movement. She feared it wasn't working very well, but he seemed to be falling for it.

"Well, what's wrong with meeting me here?" Skulker asked. She took the lid off of the thermos, and felt it charge up.

"Because," she said with a sigh and took out the thermos from behind her back. "You don't belong here." His smile disappeared immediately.

"NOOOOO! " the ghost yelled as his form was absorbed into the cylindrical container. "You're in league with the Ghost Child! I know you are!" He managed to yell at her before she clipped the lid over the top, and shut it off. The girl behind her suddenly broke out into laughter.

"That was great!" she said as she walked over to the halfa. Jazz grinned at the slightly smaller girl. How old could she be? Jazz wondered. "So," the mauve helmet bent down to look at the thermos that the blue-haired teen still held in her hands. "Where did you get that?" Jazz smiled and shrugged. What the heck?

"From Da–er...Bill," she replied.

"How close are you?" the figure straitened and put her hands on her hips. "Is he your boyfriend or something."

Jazz cringed. "Ew! No! He's my brother." The other girl stared at her for a few moments before she spoke up.

"I didn't know ghosts had siblings..."

"Er..." Jazz said, suddenly realizing the awkward and uncomfortable situation she'd placed herself in.

"Look, I gotta go, okay?" She said suddenly. Then, with a smile and a wave, she launched herself into the air. The ghost hunter took a step back.

"Oh...er...right," the hunter girl replied. "Bye?"

Valarie felt totally confused. How many ghosts really were the "bad guys" she'd always thought they were? She could only shake her head as she watched the ghost girl disappear into the night.

* * *

Oh my gosh! I actually got something up! Feel loved. ;) Hope you guys liked it. Sorry for the suckiness. Thanks for reviwing! 


	14. Finding Danny

Jazz felt nothing short of elated when she finally got back to her house. She'd had an encounter with two ghosts tonight: a guy called "the Box Ghost" ( who she'd been able to take care of with a few punches) and then the "Skulker" guy. She'd beat every ghost she'd encountered, and that was all the activity she could find! Not to mention, she'd been lucky enough to get on decent terms with one of the local Ghost Hunters. All in all, she felt rather pleased with herself.

"Danny!" Jazz beamed as she phased through the wall and landed on the floor of his room. "Danny I did it! I–" she cut off and her smile disappeared immediately when she looked around, only to see that his bed stood empty. "Danny?" She asked softly, in case he'd gotten up, and she hadn't seen him. 'He probably had to go to the bathroom again or something,' she told herself, and actually believed that, until she saw the covers strewn from the bed to the door, like he'd been dragged or carried...

"No..." she whispered to herself, as her face drained of color. "Danny..." With that said, she rushed through the door, and almost flew down the stairs (literally). "MOM! DAD!" She yelled as her feet flew over the kitchen floor and onto the basement stairwell steps. "MOM!" She gasped, bursting into the lab to see her parents bent over a table in the center.

"Honey?" Maddie turned around worriedly, revealing the tabletop, and the figure lying there.

"Is it a ghost?" Jack asked hopefully. Jazz only stared at them, blinking.

Finally, she regained her voice. "Why," she said slowly, trying to keep the anger out of her tone, "do you have Danny down here?" Maddie and Jack exchanged glances before turning back to her, looking a little annoyed themselves.

"What's wrong?" Maddie demanded.

"I went into Danny's room, and he wasn't there," Jazz folded her arms, and glared at her parents.

"Well," Jack suddenly jumped in, "Danny's been acting strange lately, and we figured it might be ghost related." Jazz shut her eyes in what she hoped looked like annoyance and not fear.

Maddie continued Jack's sentence in a much gentler tone than before. "So, we decided to scan him thoroughly, and run a few tests...things like DNA, you know, stuff like that." Jazz felt her fists ball at this, and couldn't contain herself any longer. If she hadn't had her eyes clenched shut, someone might have realized they'd changed color to the bright, glowing green.

"HE'S SICK!" She practically yelled. "Has he been out since you brought him down?" She took a step forward. "I mean, he's been up and down all day! One minute he's fine, and the next he's gone! Scans and tests that are ghost related, will NOT help him right now! He needs to be in bed!"

Maddie bit her lip and looked back at her son for a few minutes. "Come to think of it," she said slowly, "he hasn't really...done anything but breath...but he's always been such a heavy sleeper...I didn't really..." Suddenly she turned and pointed to her husband. "Jack! Help me wake him up!"

"Danny! Danny!" They yelled at him. Jazz ran up behind them, hoping some sort of ghost detector thing wouldn't go off with her presence. For the first few seconds, he didn't respond, but as she ran towards them (in slow motion it seemed), he groaned, and she felt relief wash over her.

"What the..." he opened his eyes and looked around at everyone. "Mom? Dad? Where...? The lab?" He shook his head, obviously confused.

"Jazz is right," Maddie said, resting her hands on her sons shoulders and helping his unsteady frame off of the table. "You need to be upstairs." With that, she placed his arm around her shoulder, and they began to walk unsteadily towards the door. Jack and Jazz both jumped to help, but Jazz reached him first.

"I'll get it, dad," she nodded. She did not want to let her brother out of her sight, especially when the only other people she could entrust him to might suddenly try to suck him into a trap or something.

"Looks like you're staying home from school tomorrow, young man," Maddie commented. "And if this isn't better by tomorrow night, we're taking you to the hospital." Danny only nodded through heavy eyelids as they trudged awkwardly up the stairs.

* * *

Well, thanx to all my readers still...although I didn't get many reviews...sigh Well, tell me if you like it please. Thanx.


	15. Personality change

Deticated to Cheerin4Danny because she's always inqiring after me, half to see if I'm still alive, half to see if I'm going to write more. :hug: Thanx hon.

* * *

Jazz went to school the next day feeling worried, overwhelmed and almost totally unsure of herself. She hadn't felt like this since her first day of high school...and then it had only lasted a few hours at the most. Many of her friends inquired after her, but what could she tell them? She was filling in for her little brother who happened to be a super hero? She had suddenly turned into a half ghost? Maybe if this would have happened to her personally she would have told some of her closer friends...but if she told them now, she'd eventually end up telling them about Danny...and the last thing she wanted to do was expose "Inviso-bill".

"Hey Marta," Jazz tapped her friend on the shoulder, "I need some time alone today, so I'm going outside." The dark haired girl nodded worriedly, but didn't pursue the matter. Considering the fact that she already had asked earlier that morning, she knew Jazz would tell her when she felt like it. "Thanks," Jazz said with a smile, and walked out of the cafeteria doors, not noticing Sam and Tucker looking after her.

"Is it just me, or is this the most depressed she's ever been?" Tucker asked Sam.

Sam sighed. "Yeah. I'm just glad it isn't spirit week again. She would have fit right in."

"If it has something to do with Danny, maybe we can help," Tucker suggested. Sam nodded and they followed the red-haired 16-year-old to one of the few tables set up outside the school.

"Hey Jazz," Sam started uncertainly.

"Hi," she answered without turning to meet them. Tucker stepped forward to say something, but Jazz stood up before he could. The two teens stepped back at her sudden movement, and she looked over her shoulder at them. "Follow me." She said the words with her normal authority, but an unusual pleading tone crept its way into the phrase, surprising the other two even more. She turned and walked towards the side of the school without another word, and, with a shrug, the Goth girl and techo-geek followed.

She turned down an enclosed alley and out of view. When they reached the same point, she turned and faced them with folded arms. "Stand there please," she nodded at the two. They stopped in their tracks, unknowingly blocking the entrance from any prying eyes..

"I stopped by your house last night," Sam said carefully.

Tucker piped up. "Me too. What–"

"Let me show you what happened," in a very un-Jazz like manner, she interrupted the dark skinned boy. The two stared at her, unsure of what to make of her sudden change of personality. Those looks quickly melted into absolute shock as two blue rings appeared around her waist, and separated to leave a blue-haired ghost standing in front of them. "Yeah," Jazz sighed, her voice echoing slightly. "That was our reaction too." She changed back as her brothers friends continued to gape and blink at her. Finally she stood before them as a normal person, but they continued to stand there with their jaws hanging open, until Tucker suddenly fell forward.

"Tucker! What happened?" Jazz asked worriedly.

"Oh," Sam managed to say through her own utter surprise. "He probably fainted."

"So," Sam and Tucker had followed Jazz back to the table, where she sat dejectedly with her head in her hands. Tucker happily finished the lunch she vowed she didn't want, while Sam summed up the situation. "That machine just gave you his powers?"

Jazz sighed. "And a few personality traits."

"That explains a lot," Tucker said around a mouthful of food.

"And," Sam continued, "we need to find out if it's going to continue to hurt him, but you don't want us to talk to your parents in case they get suspicious."

Jazz nodded. "It's still his secret. I can't simply give it away until I know that he's not going to get them back."

"I'm sure I can get ahold of another expert," Sam tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Great," the older teen already looked relieved. "Call me as soon as you have anything."

"Right," the Goth grinned. "I'll go start right now." Sam nodded with a smile.

"What about me?" Tucker asked.

Sam turned and looked over her shoulder. "I'm gonna need your PDA and your help." She rolled her eyes as if to say "DUH". "Make sure you have your cell phone, Jazz. I'll call you ASAP."

"Thanks guys," Jazz said with a smile touching her lips.

"That's more like the Jazz we know," Sam smiled back and dragged Tucker (still eating fries) into the school behind her.

* * *

Think it took me long enough? Let me tell you though, reviews do help. I had a lot of homework this week...sigh

ChineseIsGreek2Me: Don't worry, I plan on finishing this one, and at least three others in this series alone.

Kraven the Hunter: Bad in a big way...oh yes. Yes indeed. Still not for about two chapters...gotta build up the suspense, right? ;)

A lotof you are finding connections from the hints I'm dropping, and I love it! Please, keep guessing! Many of you are on the right track!


	16. BrotherSister banter

After school, Jazz skipped a band rehearsal to rush home and check on her baby brother. After some finagling, she got her parents out of the house so she could talk to him without interruption, and took a sandwich up to him. She woke him up by dumping all of his schoolbooks onto his bed (she'd taken the liberty of going around to his teachers and getting all the homework he'd missed), and handing him his food. Surprised and a little dazed from waking up, he took the sandwich as she began to pace.

"Woah, Jazz," he said through a mouth full of bread crumbs, turkey and lettuce, "calm down. It's not that bad, is it?"

She sighed but continued pacing. "I can't help it. I feel so energetic lately, and I don't know why. I got maybe three hours of sleep last night, and I feel fine...more like I got nine or ten hours." She paused for a moment, and looked over at him. "Does this happen to you?"

"Only when my powers build," he replied as he gulped the food down and took another bite out of the sandwich. "I'm so hungry. Thanks Jazz." She smiled at him and continued her pacing.

"So," he said after a few seconds. "Do you still have control problems?"

She sighed again. "Yeah, I fell through my desk twice today, and had to avoid crowds so they wouldn't notice me sinking into the ground, or walking through something. However, I can do it at will now." A smile came to her face, "I've got invisibility down too...mostly. Flying came pretty easy..." she glanced up. "What should I work on next?" Danny thought for a moment before replying.

Finally his look brightened as if he remembered something. "The next power I developed was overshadowing people."

Jazz glanced at him. "You mean, taking people over from the inside out?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded. "Basically." Jazz shuddered.

"Well," She continued, "I haven't tried to use any shields or anything...and I certainly haven't tried to take anyone over."

Danny held his hands in the air, as if to surrender. "Hey, I found that one out on accident."

Jazz ignored him. "I don't know," she sighed and looked at her hands. "I just feel like I know all of this is going to...diminish."

"So," Danny said, glancing at her maliciously. "You actually HIT on SKULKER?" Jazz turned and glared at him.

"Did you have to bring it up?" she asked.

"I fell asleep just after you told me last night," he shrugged. "It seems like you just barely told me." Jazz looked away and sighed dejectedly. "Look," Danny gave in, "if you're really having that much of a problem, why don't you go practice in the ghost zone. You can work out there without hurting anyone and you'll automatically get back out because the machine can sense the human part of you. Wait," Jazz glanced over at his hesitation. "That might be a problem!"

"What!" Jazz asked, suddenly worried.

Danny's face broke into a smile. "Do you have any human in you?"

"Little brothers..." Jazz growled, walking forward. He only grinned. "Fine," she stopped pacing, and her own face broke into a smile. "I'll just leave you with your homework." He looked down at the paperwork she'd brought home for him...several books, several classes, several hours. His mood sobered immediately.

He looked up. "Thanks a lot," he grumbled.

"You're welcome," Jazz grinned and walked out the door. "Later!"

* * *

Cheerin4Danny: You're more than welcome. :D

LaBOBruen: You're not retarded. Goose. We simply don't think along the same lines, so you're not looking for things that I normally would (and would therefore write).


	17. Running to Danny

"I really don't want to do this," Jazz muttered to herself as she looked at the closed porthole door leading to the Ghost Zone. "And Have I mentioned that I really don't want to do this?" She sighed. There just wasn't another way around it. She needed to "practice" badly, so she could gain at least a little more control. Taking a deep breath, she put her hands up, with her thumb and forefinger touching, as if she were meditating.

"I can do this," she said to herself. "I am calm...I'm fine...and...I'm a ghost..." The ring appeared, bringing with it a cold chill. Funny, her heart didn't stop beating like Danny said his did. With a shake of her head she banished the thought temporarily, and concentrated on the task at hand. With a deep breath, she raised her hand to touch the button that opened the Fenton Portal.

Her hand had barely brushed it, when it sparked. "What the..." she started, but soon cut off as a large beam of energy surged through her body. She felt like she had suddenly been doused in fire, and she couldn't help but scream. Finally, the surge stopped, and she stumbled backwards with a hand on her forehead. She felt the change back to human come over her unwittingly, and sighed.

She glared at the door, still trying to analyze her thumb print and DNA, and turned to stomp up the stairs. Just as she turned the corner into the kitchen, the screen by the door spoke.

"Jasmine Fenton: ID confirmed. Please proceed." The door opened swiftly and silently, and remained open. For a few minutes nothing happened in the lab now doused in green light. Then a white wisp of mist came from the porthole, and sank into the ground.

xoxoxox

"Danny," Jazz opened his door with a glare. He once again woke up. Why was he sleeping so much? "How do you get INTO the ghost zone?" Danny looked at her like she had suddenly turned crazy.

"The Fenton Portal," he said slowly.

"It zapped me," she interrupted. "And it hurt. AND it didn't open." She didn't care that she wasn't using proper English, she just found herself uncharacteristically upset at a simple machine, and wanted to fix the problem.

"You hit it in ghost mode, didn't you," Danny smiled knowingly. "It'll try to electrocute you (because mom and dad just put in some sort of protection thing that only works with ghosts), but it'll still open. It just takes longer."

Jazz suddenly felt utterly foolish. "Oh," she said. "Thanks." Danny shook his head and flopped back onto the pillow as she left. "Sisters" he mumbled before sleep took him again.

xoxoxox

The red-haired teen thumped downstairs, suddenly feeling grumpy as well as embarrassed. The thing was, she couldn't decide wether these feelings were her's, or something that accompanied Danny's own powers. She also couldn't help but feel annoyed at the fact that she kept running back to her little brother at any problem. He'd figured it out on his own, why couldn't she? And her grades remained strait A's.

She was so caught up in her thoughts, that she almost didn't notice the stream of blue mist that suddenly left her mouth. Suddenly her resolve hardened.

"Right...I'm a ghost," she said the line that triggered her own transformation. She'd go over it later and find something better to say. Of course Danny's own battle cry wasn't much better.

For the second time in the last fifteen minutes, she felt her body go cold and change. After a few seconds, she stood as a ghost in the middle of the front room. Thankful she'd been able to send her parents off on their little errand, she realized the ghost sense told her to go down. So, she took a deep breath, and dived into the floor, heading for the lab.

As soon as her head poked through the floor, she saw the ghost...a very pretty ghost dressed in a harem outfit. She looked somewhat like a genie with long, black hair. Jazz realized that the ghost had come through the porthole because SHE had been too impatient to wait and see if it did open. Mentally she kicked herself, suddenly feeling far more stupid than she had before. The genie glanced up towards her, and she told herself to stop. Panic soon replaced the feeling if inadequacy when she realized, that her body wouldn't respond, and she continued to speed towards the surprised ghost below.


	18. Desiree and gremlins

"AAAAA!" Jazz screamed. "Look out! Can't stop!" She barely got the words out before the ghost registered them, and tried to get out of the way...far too late. Jazz closed her eyes, and braced for impact. She wasn't disappointed, and easily hit the other spirit with a loud thud. They fell in a tangle of limbs, hair and newly acquired bruises on the floor in front of the open porthole.

Jazz sat up first, favoring a sore shoulder. "Sorry," she said, letting it slip out by accident before she realized who she had apologized to. A groan only met her comment. "I'm...er...kind of new at this," she laughed nervously.

"Obviously," the black-haired genie sat up, rubbing her head, and fixing some of the jewelry she wore.

"Er..." Jazz looked down, feeling sorry despite herself. "Are you alright?" The ghost looked up suspiciously.

"Why would you care?" Jazz shrugged in answer, not really sure herself. "I'm fine," the Genie said as she ran a hand through the long, black tresses of hair that seemed to accentuate her every move. Jazz almost found herself taking notes to improve her own behavior, when she realized what she was doing, and shook her head.

"Maybe you should...um...go and rest," she looked at the Fenton Porthole.

"Nice try," the Genie rolled her eyes, and floated into the air.

Jazz shrugged. "Figured it was worth a try."

"I am Desiree, and you're heart's desire is my command," the genie suddenly took on an air of service and helpfulness that Jazz found completely fake.

"Really...well, I wish–"

"Wait," Desiree held up a hand. "Before you continue, I would just like to know one thing." Jazz shut her mouth and looked up warily, raising her eyebrow in question. "Does the half ghost child, Danny Phantom, still reside here? If you answer, I shall leave you in peace." For once, Jazz didn't really know how to answer that question. In all technicality, Danny Phantom didn't exist anymore...although Danny Fenton did...

"Er...kind of..." she replied slowly.

Desiree cocked her head suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that it's a long story. I'm filling in for him while he...recovers."

"But he does remain," she asked hopefully.

"I hope so," Jazz sighed.

"I shall take that into consideration," Desiree said with a grin, and she suddenly straitened up, before bowing deeply. "I thank you for your help," she rose, and disappeared into the ghost zone.

"Okay, that was weird," Jazz shook her head, and once again faced the porthole. "And I still don't want to do this." With a sigh, she stepped through the swirling green barrier and into the ghost zone.

She hadn't been gone 20 minutes, when a blue, maroon and white streak flew out of the door, and dived for the control button. Jazz didn't even look behind her, her eyes fixed on the red button ahead of her. She didn't care that it zapped her once again, causing her hair to stand on end, and a general, slightly burned feeling to increase around her.

"Great," she grumbled. "Very little practicing, and a lot of chasing by ghosts that look like gremlins. What next?" With that, she detransformed as she mounted the stairs, already recovering. 'Do all ghosts recover this fast?' she remembered asking herself, before heading up to her room to work on some of the homework she hadn't finished at school that day.

* * *

It's really late, and I'm really tired, so I'm not going to answer any questions or anything tonight. I'll do so tomorrow, when I post my rather deep chappie with a lot of theories. I love theories. Anywho, please don't feel offended, and goodnight!


	19. Scientist explains

I am warning you now. The following chapter has a lot of scientific and long words. If you dont' want to read through it, skip to the last three paragraphs.

* * *

Jazz had just finished her homework when the doorbell rang. Stretching, she walked calmly down the stairs and opened the door to see Tucker and Sam standing there, out of breath. Sam looked pale and worried with a white knuckled grip on the laptop she held to her chest, while Tucker just looked confused.

"We have to talk! Danny too," Sam gasped. Rather surprised, Jazz ushered them in, and made a quick phone call to her parents to let them know Sam and Tucker had shown up to see Danny so they wouldn't be in for any surprises when they got home. Surprises usually caused them to be testy for the rest of the evening.

"I was able to get a hold of another paranormal expert," Sam said quickly after they'd woken Danny. "I taped the conversation so I wouldn't miss anything," she said nervously, set her computer up, and flipped the power switch. The screen flickered on to show an older man with thick salt and pepper colored hair, and a sour expression.

"Miss Manson, I presume?" He asked, sounding slightly less perturbed then he looked.

"Thank you for getting back to me so quickly," they heard Sam's voice answer him.

"Do I really sound like that?" Sam asked as she stepped back, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

The doctor raised an eyebrow skeptically. "I normally don't after hours." Well, that proved he wasn't in a good mood. "May I ask what this emergency is?"

A pause followed, and Danny knew that Sam had tried to tweak her explanation last minute to make it sound better.

"Er," she answered, "I have a paper on paranormal theories due tomorrow." Danny could picture the almost fake grin she would have plastered onto her face. "Besides, I'll make it worth your while," her voice added. Danny blinked and glanced at Sam, who blushed. He hadn't realized how much she used her money and social standing to help him.

"Very well," the doctor's hard expression softened slightly.

Sam continued. "In all technicality, I decided to put this in the form of a theoretical story." She sounded very professional and businesslike to him. She didn't use that tone of voice unless she was after something. They heard her clear her throat before she went on with a gulp. "It's a theory about half ghosts."

"They're impossible," he interrupted before she could go any further. "A ghost is dead, end of story. They are theoretically thoughts ad feelings of people who have passed on or about people who have passed on that come together and form entities." Danny smiled at the thought of her exasperation at being interrupted, and at hearing something she'd heard several times before...even if it did sound more scientific.

"Well," she said, the annoyance lacing her voice. "Is there any way at all? Maybe he's a human with powers or something." Danny winced as her words struck a little too close to home.

"I just don't see how it could be possible," he shook his head.

"Nothing at all?" her voice sounded almost desperate.

He leaned closer to the camera. "Miss Manson, if they were a ghost, they'd be only a ghost, and that couldn't change until they passed on. People can't come back from the dead, even if they can take on a more human form. And there is no process that I am aware of that a human can survive to give them ghost-like qualities. You would have to basically kill part of them, but leave the rest alive...and it isn't possible. The only thing I could think of with that kind of result would be to rush an electrical ectoplasmic bolt through their body...but that would kill ALL of them." He looked poignantly at the screen.

"Oh," Sam sounded horrified on the computer. In real life, she looked down grimly, unwilling to meet her best friend's eyes. Jazz and Tucker both stared pale faced at the screen as the words sank in. Danny had suspected something like this for a while, but to hear it just brought the entire situation crashing down on him. He hadn't really grasped a lot of what was being said, but he got this. He wasn't supposed to be alive...when he'd made that stupid mistake of walking into that porthole, he should have died...become a FULL ghost.

On the screen, Sam apparently recovered very quickly. "Well...er...if the second theory could eventually work successfully...could we base this off of that one?" The doctor shrugged and sat back with a sigh.

"Right," Sam continued. "I have a friend who's really into ghosts, and she wanted me to write this on what would happen if...say, this half ghost's powers were transferred into a human..."

"How?" the doctor asked, his tone practically shouting at how skeptical he was.

"A supposed telepathic invention that backfired," Sam replied confidently.

The doctor shook his head. "Whoever would create such an invention should know that if ghosts are thoughts and feelings, a telepathic device would fuse a ghost (or the ghost part of the half ghost) into the human using the machine."

"Would it be permanent?" Sam asked bluntly.

"Unless the half ghost used it back, I would think so. Any part of this person that was ghost, not including the genes that allow the living and dead to exist together in one being, would be literally ripped away from them. If that person is still alive, they would have to have the mutation physically and permanently in their genes, or their powers would digress."

"Could you say that in Lamen's terms?" Sam's voice came dryly.

The doctor sighed again. "It would effect everything that was ghost in the person."

"I see," she prompted. "What kind of state do you think they'd be in? Any sicknesses?"

"I'd be surprised if they weren't in a coma. Half of the force that keeps them alive would be gone. If they were even awake, it would be because the other person that used that machine on them was near."

"Uh, and the long term effects?"

The older man shrugged. "I would think that eventually the first person would start to build strength, although I don't know if they would ever be a pronounced "part ghost" because it would be their human life force keeping them alive and building. The other person would be running on an existence force that would exceed at least 130. They wouldn't need as much food or sleep to get the same results from their body as normal. However, the existence force would eventually equalize and revert back to their normal life force by fusing the two together. The powers that this person would possess would also diminish, and probably disappear all together."

A long pause followed before Sam's voice became audible again. "Well," she sounded shaky on the screen. "I really appreciate this, Doctor. You should receive your payment tomorrow."

"Indeed," the Doctor nodded politely and the screen went blank.

Everyone sat around, staring into space. "Um..." Danny rubbed the back of his head. "Could someone please tell me what's going on in English?"

"Jazz's powers will fade, and we don't know if you'll get yours back," Sam said quietly.

"And, even if you do, there will probably be a point where neither your or me could stop even the weakest ghosts," Jazz whispered. "Amnity Park will loose all their protection."


	20. Danny's Influence

Danny stared ahead, blankly for several seconds as the room settled into silence.

"Oh," he said after several seconds, his face expressionless.

Tucker decided to take this opportunity and voice his opinion. "All of his other theories fit," he pointed out. "There's a good chance these will fit too."

"I hadn't noticed," Jazz said softly, "that he's only been awake when I'm around. It explains why I recover so quickly, and why I don't need sleep." The group sat around solemnly for a few seconds before Danny stood up.

"Well, it looks like we're going to have to switch back," he said coldly.

"Danny, I'm sorry," Jazz said. Danny forced a smile.

"Hey, I knew I couldn't get rid of this that easily," he shrugged and turned towards the entrance.

Sam blinked and shook her head in disbelief. "Do you really hate it that much?" she asked. Danny stopped at the door, and sighed.

"No," he looked down, shaking his head. "But I would like to be considered a hero by more than four other people. I would like to be able to keep good grades while handling the hero thing. I would like to not have to worry about my friends and the town's safety every three seconds. And, I would like to not worry about having to keep running from my parents." He looked back. "Is that too much to ask?" No one answered him.

"You'd better get back to bed, Danny," Jazz said softly, once again breaking the silence. "I'll go find that stupid machine." Danny nodded and complied, obviously not in the mood for an argument.

On her way downstairs, Jazz wondered what she should say to her brother. Advice had never been too hard to come by before, so why did everything confuse her now? Should she tell him that that's how life went? That things happened for a reason? As she descended to the lab, she felt her spirits fall with each step.

Should she even say anything at all? Maybe silence would be the best case in this matter, but she always hated just sitting there. She liked to _DO_ things, and nothing could change that. Should she comfort him?

She growled in frustration and searching through the lab, throwing things and moving things around almost carelessly. She didn't particularly worry about the state of the place (not that her father kept things too clean anyways), so a small pile began do grow behind her as she would toss things over her shoulder (mostly things she knew wouldn't break).

For once, she didn't know what to tell him, or what to do. Pausing, she looked at her hand. It looked like any normal, human hand, but it reminded her of her brother and the power she now held...his power. Was this how Danny felt all the time? Was it Danny's personality that effected her now?

She didn't know, so she simply shook the thought from her head, and turned around to look at the cluttered workplace.

"Okay," she growled out loud. "Where is it!" She looked around a bit more, before standing up and placing her hands on her hips. "It's not here," she sighed. "Mom and Dad must have taken it. Guess there's nothing to do but wait." The familiar empty feeling that came after letting out anger and frustration seemed to drain away her resolve, and so she ascended the stairs looking deflated and sad.

When she reached Danny's room, she leaned around the door frame, to see the three friends sitting around, talking. "Um, Mom and Dad...Hey!" She smiled at the sight of Danny looking at her. "You're still awake."

"Yeah," Sam grinned.

Tucker shot a thumbs up. "He almost zonked just after you left," he said, "but he was able to fight it off."

"That's great!" Jazz grinned and entered the room.

"Where's the invention?" Sam asked. Jazz's smile left immediately.

"I couldn't find it. Mom and Dad must have taken it." She sighed, "And I can't–" A blue mist escaping from her mouth suddenly stopped her sentence. "Oh no," she slapped her forehead.

Sam stood up. "I'll come with you," she volunteered.

"No, I need you to stay here, with Danny," Jazz nodded at them. "I'm a ghost," she said calmly. The two rings appeared, and separated.

"Tucker can stay," Sam placed her hands on her hips.

"HEY!" Tucker protested, but neither girl listened to him.

"Look, I've gone on more ghost hunts than you may realize," Sam continued. "We help Danny all the time."

"Please, Jazz," Danny asked quietly. She looked up at him and felt a smile touch her lips again. He cared about her, even if he did act like a jerk sometimes, he was still her brother, and he did care. Several thoughts crossed her mind at that point, but only one really surfaced.

"Alright," she nodded. "As long as you can keep up." And with that, she launched herself through the roof.

Sam shot out the door, and downstairs, yelling about how unfair that was, and how Danny and Jazz were more alike than they realized.

"Figures that the girls would get to go," Tucker sulked. "I wanted to." Through the daze that Danny now felt, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Thanks a lot, Tuck," he chuckled. "Thanks a lot."

* * *

Thank you everyone who is reading this, again. This would never have come to be without you. I'm glad a lot of you got the last chapter, and thank you for letting me know. If you ever find faults or disagree with my theories, you're more than welcome to tell me. Actually, I'd encourage it. Please tell me. :hug:

Kraven the Hunter: Well, she did tell Desiree that he was out, but I was hoping for an implication of "you're gonna have to go through me first". She's also not really acting like herself, so yeah. However, you bring up a good point, and I'll see if I can fix it.

Faith's Melody: You're more than welcome, and thank you right back. :hug: I don't plan on quitting writing any time soon.

LaBOBruen: I'm telling you, I LOVE and absolutely ADORE writing evil cliffies. :D It's the only time that my "evil" side really comes out. ;)

Phew! Told y'all I'd reply:hug: Thanx again everyone!


	21. Problem and Abduction

"My first week on the job, and I loose the stupid ghost," Jazz sighed as she and Sam walked up to the Fenton Works house.

Sam shook her head with a smile. "Danny still does it all the time," she said as she opened the front door. "Like you said, it's your first week. Don't be so hard on yourself. Besides, if everything goes well, you won't have to worry about ever getting used to it."

The older teen smiled, "Thanks."

"No problem," Sam smiled. "I'm just glad your parents are home."

"Now we can remedy the situation," Jazz sighed, not sure wether to be excited or depressed. She didn't have too long to think about it, as Tucker rushed up to them from the Kitchen.

"Boy, am I glad you guys are back," he gasped and turned to Jazz. "Your parents want to take Danny to the hospital, now. I stalled them, but..." he faded off.

Jazz gave him a reassuring smile. "Good Job, Tucker," she said calmly. "I just–" a sudden cold burst through her mouth, cutting into her sentence yet again. Did it always have to do that just as she said something? Were ghosts this inconvenient for Danny? Probably worse, she thought to herself, and turned to make for the stairs, and a safer place to change.

"Jazz?" Her parents voices came from the kitchen.

"Oh no," Jazz groaned.

Her parents suddenly blocked the light from the kitchen door, and looked over at her. "Tucker said Danny's getting better, but we just checked on him. He's still out like a light, so we wanted your opinion."

"Oh," Jazz said, trying not to sound nervous. She sensed the ghost upstairs somewhere, and she had to get to transform and go after them before she lost the ghost again. "I...er...was just going to check on him," she said with a smile. "Be right back!" she yelled and rushed up the stairs before they could say anything.

When she stepped out of sight of her parents, she stopped and took several deep breaths. Then she triggered the transformation as she walked into Danny's darkened room.

"Danny?" her hand reached for the light switch, and felt around in the dark until she found it. Even though she'd only been in the dark for a few minutes, she still had to blink after she'd turned it on. "Danny, we can switch back soon, but there's a ghost that I..." She stopped as she realized that his bed stood empty. "Danny?" she looked around, and then sighed, returning to her normal mode. "Not again," she shook her head, and walked back downstairs.

"So," she said as she began to descend. "Where did you put him this time?"

"What are you talking about?" Maddie looked up, perplexed. "We just checked on him..." she faded off.

"Wait a minute," Jazz held up her hand, her face suddenly going pale. "He wasn't in the bathroom...I just walked by; it was open and dark. He wasn't in his own room either...and you don't know where he is?"

Maddie suddenly looked very angry and opened her mouth to say something, but Jack beat her to the punch. "IT'S A GHOST!" he yelled, straining his neck forward. "He must have taken Danny!" He reached behind him and pulled out several strange looking weapons. Where he'd been able to store that many things on his person without causing a bulge, she had no clue. Maddie followed suit. "We'll track him down!" Jack yelled as he flew out the front door, his wife on his heals.

"Stay here," she said before closing the door. "And don't worry, we'll find him!"

Sam and Tucker blinked after them for a few minutes, before they turned and looked at Jazz, who still stood on the stairs, half dazed, half thoughtful.

"Jazz," Sam said slowly, "Please tell me that you were trying to distract them..." she faded off when Jazz's look didn't change.

"No," the red-haired stared ahead, unblinking. "I felt a ghost, and I'm sure he was up stairs," she blinked several times, as if a realization had suddenly come over her. "I think he's still here, but he went downstairs..." She faded off, and looked at the other two.

As they stood their, for those few brief moments of silence, a faint, weak voice reached them. "Jazz!" They recognized it immediately.

"That sounded like Danny," Sam said, her own face matching Jazz's.

"It came from the basement!" Tucker turned and pointed toward the lab door. No one needed to voice any opinions, or thoughts. They simultaneously started running for the door, each knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt, that something was very wrong.

NEXT CHAPTER

"I'm a ghost!" Jazz breathed as she followed the other two teens into the basement. The ring actually appeared in front of her this time. Without hesitation, she jumped through it, phasing over Sam and Tucker's heads, and into the lab. Her eyes immediately caught on the green, swirling vortex that caused the room to be bathed in an eerie light. Her face paled. She knew she'd closed the door last...she'd had to, to stop the gremlins.

"Tucker," Jazz turned to him, "Did mom and dad come down here, at all?"

He shook his head. "They got home maybe 10 minutes before you did, and I was with them the whole time, even when they brought the Fenton Feeler down here."

"You mean that?" Sam pointed to the floor in front of the porthole. The Fenton feeler lay on it's side, with it's arms sprawled out, as if it had been knocked and left there.

"That's funny," Tucker scratched his chin. "I know he put it on the table...I was right there. He couldn't stop talking about it."

"That sounds like my dad," Jazz said, without thinking. She blinked for a few seconds after words, wondering why she'd say something like that, but brushed it off as a comment Danny would have said in her situation. From the looks on Sam and Tucker's faces, she could tell they thought the same thing.

Sam stepped forward. "Then who was the last one to use the door?" she asked quietly.

"And doesn't it close on it's own?" Tucker pointed out.

"It's locked open," Sam gulped, and turned to Jazz. "Have you used the porthole at all in the last few days? Jazz nodded.

"A few hours before you guys got here. Why?"

"Tucker," she turned to the African-American, "hook up your PDA, and see who opened the door last." Tucker nodded, and brushed past her, sticking an extension chord from his hand-held computer into the lock. After a few seconds of tapping on the screen, his eyes went wide, and the girls gathered around him. Jazz felt suddenly sick, and Sam lost all color in her face. Two words flashed across the screen: Daniel Fenton.

Danny woke up to the sound Jazz talking...she was saying something to him about how they could switch back. He opened his eyes, feeling strong for a few seconds again, only to realize that he had phased through the floor of his room, just as the light turned on.

"Wha..." he blinked as the familiar kitchen opened around him, and he sped towards the floor (although he couldn't turn around to look, and only saw the ceiling). He felt like he was being dragged by the neck, and it hurt. In seconds he remained suspended in the air of the lab, although he felt as if he were hanging once again by his neck, and could barely breathe. Looking down, he could see that he remained invisible and intangible...and he hung by some sort of thick, metal collar. He could feel Jazz come slightly closer, and surmised that she must have come down the stairs... Trying to shake off the fatigue that still threatened his consciousness, he felt at the collar around his neck, and found a chain hooked on in back.

"Well, it seems your awake," said an all to familiar voice from behind him.

"Walker," he breathed, trying not to panic. The adrenalin that rushed through his veins suddenly threw off more of the tiredness, as he spun around to face the large, white-clad ghost...or he tried to. He only really succeeded in choking himself further, and setting himself in a swinging motion.

He heard several loud thumps above him, and felt walker grab him. "Open the door, punk!" he said as Danny took in oxygen with the pressure of the thick collar released. It didn't really choke him badly, but it cut into his breathing enough that he knew it had had an effect on his consciousness, especially in the condition he was in.

"And what if I don't?" he grunted. Walker pulled out a large object that Danny recognized immediately as a remote to the collar that Wulf had worn, and sent a charge through Danny, who yelped in pain.

"Then I make you a full ghost," Walker said with a smile, "And then I'll obliviate that too." Danny gulped and reached a hand forward, pressing his thumb to the genetic lock.

The mechanical voice from the pad spoke immediately. "DNA signature recognized. Daniel Fenton: Please proceed." The door opened, and Walker smiled, focusing on that, and not on the "Lock door open" button that Danny brushed as his hand retracted. He had to let the others know where he was going.

That's when he saw the Fenton Feeler on the table. Walker still held him up by his shirt, so the huge shackle around his neck didn't hurt him at the moment. If he could just nock it off...maybe they'd notice...maybe not...but he had to try. Slowly, he reached a hand out, but fell short by at least a foot. So, he put his hand to the collar, and stretched his foot out. It knocked the strange-looking, metal headband to the floor, causing Walker to turn on him. He didn't care anymore, but looked upward and yelled as loud as he could.

"JAZZ!" He realized that as weak as he was, they probably wouldn't hear it, but he could hope. They were his only hope now. He couldn't break away from Walker like this.

"What do you think you're doing, punk?" the jailer asked, pulling the teen's face close to his menacingly.

"I'm not a punk," Danny gasped, as Walker suddenly let him go. He thumped to the ground, now tangible, and looked up at the ghost.

Walker leaned in. "You are if I say you are," he thrust his finger at Danny, jabbing him in the chest. "Our new human/ghost proof room should be just the thing to keep you in."

"No," Danny whispered, his eyes growing wide. He felt slightly stronger, and knew that Jazz was coming, but before he could say or do anything else, the green, spinning vortex of the Ghost Zone swallowed them, blocking him from any view of the basement. He began to feel weaker yet again as the porthole shrank into the distance.

After that, he could only breathe one word through the despair that started to overtake him. "Jazz," he said, and then the porthole disappeared from view.

* * *

I'm sooo sorry it's been so long, so I posted two chapters at once. I'm finally over my stupid finals, and I'm finally done with school. You have no idea how relieved and thankful I am. Anywho, I'll answer questions on my next post (which should be soon).


	22. Danny Defiant

My favorite chappy...hope you guys like it! RPELY PLEASE!

* * *

It was all Danny could do to keep any consciousness at all, as the ghost zone seemed to meld and blend monotonously. He didn't dare close his eyes, for fear that he would fall asleep...and who knew if he'd be able to wake up. Without Jazz there... 

Walker kept quiet the entire time, except for the occasional menacing grunt to other ghosts...or at least that's what Danny assumed. He had a hard time focusing on anything as they passed, but he knew where they were headed...the ghost penitentiary.

He didn't know how long it took for them to arrive, it seemed like minutes and yet days at the same time. He started to sing songs, remember Lancer's stupid poetry, how to draw 'Doomed' character armor, the newest upgrades to the popular internet game, even what his father had started to say about ghosts and their inventions...anything to keep him concentrating and focused. Anything that would keep him awake.

He almost welcomed when Walker jerked his chain, and they came to a stop in front of the large, ghost building. The gates opened, and went through security procedures almost in a blur. Danny tried his best to stay awake, but he felt his consciousness slipping from him. It seemed that whenever he was about to escape the entire situation into the welcoming blackness of sleep, Walker would jerk him, just right...just enough to keep him awake. The last time this happened, the large ghost threw Danny on the floor of his office. He landed there with an oaf, but didn't move after that, as his labored breathing and weakness still jabbing at him.

"Do you like it?" the large ghost asked. "I've made upgrades, so no human can get in or out of here without my permission. Do you know how hard it is to find this kind of brick, punk?" he patted the wall gently. "You can't phase through it as a human, or a ghost. What do you think of that?" Danny didn't answer. How was it supposed to make him feel? Happy? But despite all of the frustration that Walker seemed determined to put him through, he could barely find the strength to finally rise to his knees. The other being didn't notice.

"I finally got you back, Ghost Boy!" He cackled loudly at the figure now glaring up at him.

"Why..." Danny asked, struggling to get the words out, "why...do you...want me back here...so badly?"

The ghost grinned maniacally. "You still owe me a 1,000 year sentence, punk. I never forget anyone who breaks the rules."

"What...gives you...the right to do...this?" Danny asked, still glaring up at the ghost.

"I chose this part of the ghost zone to organize. I hate chaos, punk. Chaos that kids like you cause," he thrust his finger forward again. Danny was getting tired of this...of course he just plain felt tired and the ghost Jailor wasn't helping. Still, what Walker said hit something inside him. The White-clad jailor hit a button on his desk. "I'll take him down there myself," he said, and then grabbed Danny by the scruff of the neck, and dragged him into the hallway.

"I'm not a ghost anymore," Danny managed to get out. "I'm not half ghost..." Walker had just thrust him into the courtyard, when he stopped and looked at the teenager.

"What?" he asked.

Danny took a deep breath and glared up at Walker again. "I'm not half ghost anymore," he said. "I don't have any powers...and I'm sick because of it...okay?"

"Why should I believe you, punk?" Walker threw Danny down near the wall. "I'll let someone else take you to the rest of your life, and the sentence you owe me." He turned and began to walk away, when Danny's voice stopped him.

"No."

He turned and faced the teen, who had grabbed onto the wall, and was now trying desperately to hoist himself onto his shaking legs.

"What did you say, punk?" It took every last ounce of strength that Danny had to stand, even leaning heavily on the wall, but stand he did.

"You're wrong," the raven haired teen turned his icy blue eyes towards Walker defiantly. "I don't owe you anything."

Walker growled and stepped towards him. "You broke the rules–"

"Sure," Danny interrupted softly, still too weak to even raise his voice above a normal conversation volume. "I did something BEFORE you made up the rule, and I didn't know about your law anyway."

Walker clenched his fist and continued walking towards Danny. "Like I told you, punk! Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it!"

"You're right," Danny struggled to keep his legs under him, firmly. "It's not an excuse, it's a reason. How can someone follow a rule, they know nothing about, enforced by a cop who makes "rules"up as he goes? How many times have you arrested someone for something as dumb as whistling?" He gasped, the fatigue starting to ware on him, but he continued. "Ghosts will fear you, Walker. What other choice do they have? But they will never know which rules to follow. They can never really obey you. That's not the order you seem to want so badly...it's chaos. And you..." he gasped, "are the one enforcing it." With these words, Danny fell to his knees, clenching his eyes shut, and breathing heavily. Several guards along the wall of the open courtyard had stopped and watched the two trying to stare each other down. A few even cheered when Danny fell, and no one noticed the faded blur of blue and maroon racing in their direction.

Walker now stood towering over the teenager's fallen form. What energy Danny had had, now faded away and the blackness began to creep over his vision. He felt so tired...so tired.

"Now you listen to me, punk!" He grabbed Danny by his collar and held him up, dangling. "You–"

"HEY!" If Danny could find any strength to move his head, he would have, but his mind finally gave out, and he tumbled into sleep. He missed the surprised look on Walker's face as Jasmine Fenton came barreling at them. Before he lost consciousness, he vaguely heard the welcoming, familiar voice continue. "STAY AWAY FROM MY BROTHER!"

* * *

Alright, here's more pics! (take out the spaces)

www. deviantart. com/ deviation/ 14917353/

www. deviantart. com/ deviation/ 15533776/


	23. Escape

"I see the jail!" Jazz said into the Fenton Phone she'd grabbed and stuck into her right ear before her rather hurried venture into the Ghost Zone. "There's a courtyard. Maybe I can...OOF!" She ran smack into a green barrier that completely surrounded the penitentiary. "There's a shield," she growled as she shook away dazed blanket that had settled momentarily over her mind when she hit the wall.

"You can phase through it as a human," Sam answered from somewhere behind Jazz in the Ghost Zone. Jazz had decided not to wait for them while they took a few minutes to get the Specter Speeder ready, and went ahead after a few short directions from Tucker and corrections from Sam.

She sighed, backed up a few yards, and went human as she flew forward, assuring her passage through the barrier. She quickly transformed back on the other side, and continued towards the large building, picking up enough speed to hopefully give them a surprise. That's when she noticed all of the guards had focused on something happening inside the courtyard...on one of the higher levels. She only heard the last few words of Danny's speech, and it seemed to give her the extra strength she needed to knock Walker to Kingdom Come.

Walker barely saw her fist hit him before the sensation of uncontrolled flying overtook him. He landed hard on one of the lower levels, having been knocked over the edge of the level that seemed to be nothing more than a large ledge and a small wall around the side of the courtyard.

Jazz, meanwhile, wasted no time in rushing to her brother's side.

"Danny?" she asked cautiously and grabbed his shoulder. At her touch, he shuddered suddenly, and took a deep, but unsteady breath. Jazz stared at him, horrified. He must have wasted too much strength in his little lecture to Walker because... Her next realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

"He wasn't breathing until I touched him," she whispered to herself, placing a worried hand over her mouth. "I've got to get him out of here." A loud voice suddenly startled her out of her slight trance.

"What are you all floating around for?" Walker yelled. "GET HER!"

Several ghosts rushed over and surrounded them, while Jazz looked on worriedly, knowing that with their current positions, there was no way they could escape...unless.

"I hope this works," she grimaced and grabbed Danny. "Sam! Tucker!" She yelled into the Fenton Phone, "HURRY!" As she finished speaking, two rings appeared around her waist, and she started to feel the floor beneath her give out. "Phase," she said as calmly as she could. "Phase now."

"NO!" Walker howled and jumped toward them, as did several other ghosts...but to no avail. They began to fall strait down, and in moments had passed through even his level. His hand passed through the red hair that trailed behind them, and he suddenly turned on his officers, grabbing the closest by his uniform.

"Put ALL guards on full alert AND FIND HER!" he practically screamed in the poor ghost's ears. The spirit began nodding his head very quickly as Walker continued. "And I don't care how we do it, but I want this entire prison at least coated in the non-phase material that I just lined my office in! GOT THAT!" He threw the smaller ghost across the yard. Hearing the weaker ghost scream his compliance did not help Walker's mood.

xoxoxox

Even when she expected the fall, the sudden motion caused Jazz to catch her breath and hold it for a few seconds, during which time she felt Danny's own weak attempts at breathing. Feeling that he remained alive calmed her down enough to suppress the scream that threatened to break out of her throat. She clenched his shirt tightly, trying not to dig her fingers into his flesh as she held him close, preventing him from drifting away from her as they fell. Then she looked down and once again caught her breath. A large island of some sort had floated beneath them, and she knew they'd hit it if she didn't change back very soon.

As soon as they passed through the barrier surrounding the prison, she began to change back, forcing her and her brother to come to a screeching halt feet above the gravestones that loomed in the eerie light. Danny slipped through her tight grip at the sudden halt of motion, and she had to lunge to catch him barely inches above one of the taller tomb markers.

"That was too close," she breathed, just before she remembered that as a human, they could have phased through the island. Having realized this after the fact, she hit her head with her hand and sighed.

"There she is!" A voice from the prison above caused her to turn her head and look back. Several guards began pouring over the sides of the building, and were only waiting for the shield to drop to come after her.

Taking several deep breaths, she lifted Danny into a cradle position in her arms, and flew back towards the Fenton Portal.

"Guys!" She yelled through the communicator, "I'm coming your way...and I'm bringing some unwelcome guests!"

"We heard," she Sam muttered through the phones.

After flying for a few seconds, Jazz took a moment to look behind her, and immediately regretted it. The shield had been lowered, and a large host of police ghosts had fallen into sync behind her, with an angry Walker in the lead.

* * *

Tazzel Quickbow : Well, I'm glad to meet up with you here. :D Thanx for reading and reviewing.

purbaby: thanx. :D

Asilla: LOL! No worries. I love the name change. :D I did get your e-mails...and I'm sorry I didn't reply to some of them. Comp and time problems. sigh I'd rather not discuss school...sigh

LaBOBruen: No, Jazz really doesn't know what she's getting into...as you could tell. Now she has a leigon of ghosts after her...I hope she can fly fast. ;) And you're more than welcome for the review. :D

Chinese is Greek: yes, my school got out. I'm in college. :D

Faith's melody: It has to be one of my favs too. :D It was my objective chapter...being the chapter I was writing to...for a more thourough explaination, e-mail me. u

Wiggle Lizard: Hey you:D Glad to see you 'round here. :D I'll try and check out some of your stories.

Kraven the Hunter: On the sibling bonding thing...isn't most sibling bonding strange? ;)

Thanx again you guys! REPLY!


	24. New Catch

"Guys get ready!" Jazz said, her voice laced with determination. "Danny's hurt..." she faded off when she saw a white dot in the distance, moving quickly towards them. "Is that you?" 

"Is that you?" Sam countered.

She heard Tucker gasp. "You're being followed by like a hundred ghosts!"

"Really?" She asked sarcastically. "I didn't notice."

"How could you not notice?" Tucker shot back. Then he yelped as Sam obviously hit him. "Ow! That hurt!"

"Of course she noticed!" the goth's voice rang with exasperation.

"Oh," Tucker replied.

xoxox

"Sir! There's an escape vehicle approaching!" One of the ghosts pointed out.

"Of course there is," he said in a dangerously quiet voice. The ghost got the hint and backed down. Walker continued, "Ive been expecting it...now get that girl in range!"

"If I go ahead, I can get her in range, sir," another larger ghost flew forward. Walker nodded with a smile, and the police ghost nodded back before grabbing a large gun from one of the others in the crowd. Then, with a salute, he flew ahead.

He began to catch up with her at a much faster pace than the rest of the force, and finally got to a point where he could slow and set the large, tube-like weapon on his shoulder without falling out of range again. The others watched expectantly as they began to gain on their comrad.

xoxox

"I'm almost to you!" Jazz called, realizing that flying at this speed for this long had begun to sap her energy. She wondered if she'd feel the workout in human form too. "Please no," she pleaded. The last thing she needed as the pain of such strain on top of everything else.

Suddenly, Sam called out to her. "Jazz! Watch out!" Jazz turned her head over hershoulder and saw a large ghost shoot an energy blast at her, from an extremely large ectoplasmic wand thing...

'Wand thing?' she asked herself. 'Since when have I used terms like "wand thing"'? The slight panic thathad started to come over her caused her to shake the thought from her mind. Thinking fast, she did a few quick equasions in her head. She had to be doing sixty...maybe even seventy-five or more, and the specter speeder was capable of at least that speed...'wait' she told herself. 'If that blast hits us, even remotly close to the vehicle, we'll be knocked into it. Not good. That might cause the speeder damage, but it would definately hurt them. That was the last thing Danny needed...so I HAVE to stop that somehow.'

She dodged, but the blast followed her trajectory, catching up quickly. She could almsot feel it burn her...tail. "Of course," she muttered.

An idea suddenly came to her, and she groaned at it...but she knew she coudln't come up with another idea with the time she had. Using all her strength, she forced her hand between herself and her brother's shoulder, and put the other on his leg. "I'm sorry, Danny," she said softly, and shoved him away as she did her best to stop dead (no pun intended) herself, transfering most of the speed to Danny alone.

She almost leapt for joy at the sight of his eyes cracking open with the sudden jolt.

"Jazz?" he asked weakly.

"Take care of Danny!" She yelled at the same time that Sam and Tucker started yelling at her, asking her what she was doing and if she'd gone crazy. Then the blast hit her dead center, causing a scream to rip away from her throat.

"JAZZ!" Three voices yelped, although she couldnt really register their concern.

The pain lessened, and she realized through a daze that the blast had indeed knocked her forward, just as she'd predicted. She now followed her brother at a much slower, uncontrolled pace.

"Good..." she muttered to herself. "Must keep moving..." She tried to correct herself anddive for the speeder, barely aware of Walker's cruel laugh, or the fact that many of the ghosts had almost caught up with her.

That's when she felt something bulky and metal fall over her head, and suddenly snap shut around her neck, jerking her, choking and stuttering, to a stop.

"What?" She reached her hands up and tried to pull it away, but it stayed tightly in place.

"JAZZ!" She heard three voices again, one almost imperceptible, seeing as he didn't have any Fenton Phones on, and was now more than a hundred yards away.

"We've got her, boys!" Walker's gleeful tone crowed in triumph behind her. "Now, let's bring her in!"

* * *

Sorry it's so short guys. ; Thanks again for all the replys. :hug:

LaBOBruen: Insanity moments are fun. I encourage them. ;)


	25. Getting Danny back

"Jazz," Danny moaned weakly as he drifted closer to the Specter Speeder. He could only watch helplessly as she struggled against the bulky collar that Walker had thrown at her...like she was a target in a rodeo. He knew only too well how that felt, and he'd never felt so miserable or horrible before. Watching his sister suffer, and not being able to do anything to help could very well be just about the worst thing that could ever happen to him.

Inside the vehicle, Sam broke away from her horrified shock first. "Tucker!" She yelled at the African-American, "Slow down so I can grab Danny!" The boy shoed the fear and surprise out of his face with a shake of his head, and followed the Goth's instructions.

Sam saw Danny reach a hand out towards the red-haired girl now being dragged backwards and held firmly by a cheering crowd of ghosts. She couldn't help but feel for him. How often had she been in that very position, with him being dragged in the opposite direction?

"And you're next!" Walker pointed at them menacingly. Sam ignored them, and leaned out of the ship, yelling instructions at Tucker.

"Left...NOT THAT FAR! Okay, now just nudge it left...forward...GOT HIM!" She crowed in her own triumph as her hand brushed his white, cotton shirt. She grabbed a hand full of it and yanked him inside with all of her strength. He thumped onto the ground muttering about how they couldn't leave Jazz.

Sam glanced at him, breathing heavily. Who would have thought that pulling someone inside a moving vehicle was so much work? "Look," she said. "We weren't planning on leaving her anyway."

"Good, I have an idea," Danny whispered. Sam and Tucker looked at each other, and sighed in resignation.

"What do you need us to do?" Sam asked.

Meanwhile, Jazz flew forward with all of her might, but to no avail. Her heart brimmed with accomplishment and relief when Sam dragged Danny into the Speeder, but she wouldn't allow herself to stop struggling. The fact that every ghost remained behind her and no one had come up to catch her puzzled her. What were they waiting for? Not that she felt like she could complain or anything, but--

At that point, her newly acquired collar suddenly vibrated to life. Not only did her body feel like it would be shaken apart, but a current unlike any she had ever felt coursed through her body.

A scream of pain tore from her throat as her body clenched and tensed. It was the collar, she knew...through all that pain, she didn't know HOW she knew...but vaguely, in the back of her mind, the thought crept through her now tortured brain.

It must have only lasted seconds, but it seemed like an eternity, and the pain finally stopped. Her head throbbed, and her body barely responded to her, but she didn't black out. She knew she probably wouldn't, running on the extra "spirit" to make use of a horribly bad pun.

"Alright boys," Walker crowed behind them. "Now, let's bring her in." So that's what they had been waiting for. Maybe the collar created some sort of force field. Jazz strained to move, but she felt like she had been suddenly placed in molasses and told to swim through it. Her limbs just didn't want to move.

She gasped, just realizing how hopeless her situation had become when she saw movement in the Specter Speeder.

"Wanna bet?" She heard Danny's weak voice drift over to them, barely. Sound seemed to carry far more in the ghost zone. Did it have something to do with their slightly echoing voices? Right then she knew she would be in trouble. Her mind didn't wander often. She'd trained herself specifically to avoid the attention lacking symptoms...and when they did...well, the thought scared her.

She shook the thought from her head and focused her blurred eyes on Danny, and gasped. He wore the familiar metal headband that had at least 7 arms sticking up in odd positions, and she could see him flip the switch. Vaguely, she wondered how someone so blurry only seconds before could suddenly seem so clear...just before the white light hit her, and she saw no more.

I'm dead here, and I have horrible heartburn...so gone. If this chappy sucks, please inform me so that I might fix it when I'm not in a tired stupor.


	26. The Phantom Returns

Danny could barely sit up, and he clung to the back of the seat that held his weight as Sam and Tucker listened to his hurried explanation. He begged for his eyes to focus on the host of ghosts now moving in on his sister's obviously exhausted body. He could still picture her writhing in agony from whatever bolt Walker had sent to her through the collar. It had created some sort of static bubble around her, and he guessed that whatever went into that field got zapped.

"Sam," he said as she snapped the Fenton Feeler onto his head, "Is that a really big collar, metal and leather, with a green aura?"

"Yeah," Sam looked out at Jazz. "Why?"

Danny sighed. "Then she can't phase through it as a human. That's probably the same collar he used on me."

"Looks more like a shackle to me," Tucker commented. Sam rolled her eyes. Danny ignored him.

"Is it on?" he asked. Sam nodded as she snapped it into place and helped him stand. He willed his legs to work, grasping the side of the open doorway, watching a thrashing blur that could only be Jazz, struggle weakly against the effects of the collar and the large ghost holding her back by the large chain.

He heard Walker yell..something about the ghosts bringing her in. He didn't quite hear the Warden's words, as he concentrated mostly on focusing to keep his legs beneath him, but decided now would be a good time to interject.

"Wanna bet!" He yelled as loudly as he could (which meant barely above a normal conversation tone), raised a weak hand to the metal band, and flipped the switch. He felt it power up, the familiar, low whistle slowly rising in pitch, and growled in frustration. Time stretched out, and he realized that each second the machine spent charging, meant one less second that Jazz had, and a lot fewer odds that they would escape at all, let alone unscathed.

"HURRY UP!" Danny growled, knowing full well that it wouldn't do any good. He saw Jazz stop struggling, and look up. For those few moments, his eyes obeyed his desperate need to see, and focused.

Glowing green stared into icy blue, and in the eyes of his nosy, know-it all, pushy older sister, he saw something that almost made his heart stop. She'd done this all for him...she'd thrown her own personal safety away just to make sure that he'd get home. It was almost as if he'd zoomed up to her, only to see three combating emotions on her face. Her eyes plead with him to leave while he still could, and yet she smiled happily that he had reached at least relative safety. Last of all, he saw fear. She didn't know what would happen to her, and she didn't know what would happen to them, and it scared her.

For those few moments before the spider-like headband shot it's energy at her, the machine did exactly what it had been made to do. He could see her thoughts and feelings. He knew her precise opinion, and exactly what motivated her... For those moments, he could see directly into her heart (although neither see nor feel could truly describe the experience). That one part of her shone with a brilliance that would put the soon to come light the machine gave off to shame. He could see her soul, riddled with hope, love, sincerity and good intentions.

Then the unnatural, almost unhealthy white light streaked towards her, catching both her and her brother in a light show that caused every soul besides Danny, alive or dead, to turn away, it's brightness shining out like a beacon in the dim glow of the ghost-zone.

The next thing Danny knew, he'd fallen to one knee, and Sam had reached out, preventing him from falling out of the vehicle. He felt her supporting him, and it brought him out of the dark haze that had obscured his vision. Shaking his head, he looked up, and realized he'd only blacked out for a few seconds.

Then her voice broke through the slight fuzziness. "Danny! DANNY! Are you alright!" She almost sounded panicked...which scared him just as much if not more so than anything else that he'd seen that day. Sam got scared, and wary, and worried...but she never panicked. Never.

"Sam," he took ahold of her wrists, willing her to calm down. "I'm fine." He smiled at her in reassurance. "In fact," he reached up, tore the Fenton Feeler from his head, and smiled as he heard it thud onto the seat behind him. Then he turned to face the oncoming hoard with an almost malicious grin and finished the sentence as his eyes glowed green, "I feel great."


	27. Fighting off the Ghosts

"I'm goin' ghost!" Danny yelled, and stood straight without help for the first time in days. And also, for the first time in days, two bluish rings of light grew from his mid-section and separated, revealing Danny Phantom.

"It's good to have you back, man," Tucker grinned from the driver's seat, still rubbing his eyes and trying to recover from the glare of the Fenton Feeler.

"GET THEM!" The three teenagers turned to see Walker pointing at them, a menacing growl twisting his face.

Danny turned to Sam and Tucker. "Can you guys cover me?" They pulled out two Fenton Foamers, and grinned.

"We were just going to do that with Jazz when the ghosts came in range," Tucker grinned.

"They're in range!" Danny said sarcastically, but with a smile, and dived out of the vehicle towards his sister's floating body. Several ghosts tried to jump him, but shots of ectoplasmic goo from the Specter Speeder combined with his own attacks threw most of them back and into each other. General chaos ensued from there.

He dodged more attacks, and sped towards Jazz, but at each turn he found himself blocked by more and more ghosts. Looking back, he wondered how he eluded them for as long as he did.

Finally, surrounded on every side (including above and beneath) he turned invisible, only to find that several of the ghost guards had done the same...they could see him. Sighing at his luck, he decided to turn to one of his newest powers, and concentrated on making a shield of ectoplasmic energy. This one drained him, but if it worked, it might buy them the time they needed.

Meanwhile, Sam and Tucker had turned their attention to the ghosts that had come after them. With only two Foamers shooting at once, they were losing ground quickly...or air...or whatever made up the atmosphere in the Ghost Zone.

"TUCKER! BEHIND YOU!" Sam yelled, trying to focus on her friend and the ghosts that tried to attack her. She felt panic begin to rise in her chest again. They just kept coming...and she couldn't take out all of them. Danny had disappeared, but since Jazz still hung motionless beneath the main concentration of ghosts, she assumed that he wouldn't be coming to their rescue any time soon.

"Not good," she muttered to herself. She didn't see the ghosts phase through the bottom of the speeder and come up behind her (or she might have actually shown her panic for the second time in a day)...but Tucker did. Just as he began to freak out, a large green glow exploded from somewhere near the center of the mob. A large ectoplasmic shield grew quickly, throwing ghosts away at an impressive speed. Sam and Tucker involuntarily screamed and grabbed each other as the sphere approached them.

Tucker opened his eyes just in time to see the shield pass right through them, and the speeder...but not the two ghosts who had also involuntarily grabbed each other. Seconds later Most of them floated for several seconds in a daze, outside where the shield had finally disappeared, while Danny became visible, looking surprised, where the "bubble" had originated. He too looked dazed, but promptly shook it off. Unfortunately, Walker shook it off quickly too, and he hadn't just poured all of his energy into an explosion. Growling, he leapt after the chain that had slipped his grasp when Danny's shield hit him.

Being closer to Jazz, Danny had grabbed her and started heading back to the Specter Speeder before Walker or any of his ghosts had flown anywhere near them. Getting back to the actual speeder proved slightly more difficult. Many of the police ghosts started to close in on them as Tucker steered the speeder closer to the brother and sister.

"We so need some help," he commented to Sam, who stood at the door, Foamer in hand.

"Hurry Danny!" She yelled out to them.

"You won't get away!" Walker literally screamed to them

Danny got to the vehicle gasping. "Take her," he breathed, handing Jazz's unconscious form up to Sam. The teen pulled the older girl in, allowing Danny to launch himself inside just as some ghosts approached the speeder.

"Shield," he said aloud, forcing himself to concentrate. "Come on...work!" He knew he was pushing it. The first time in days he'd even used his powers, and he had been forced to use them to the extreme. His body wasn't as used to it as normal because he'd been out of practice, and he'd literally exhausted them almost immediately. But he had to get that shield up for them to get out of there. Gritting his teeth, he willed his tired, spectral body to focus on bringing the appropriate power to hand. "It's got to work," he breathed. "It's got to..."

"You can do it Danny," a weak voice caused him to open his eyes. "I know you can." Jazz looked at him from her splayed position next to Sam. "I know, because I've been there. Come on, Danny. You can do it." With that, she closed her eyes, resting again. Danny didn't know wether she still remained conscious, but that little bit of hope from her gave him the extra motivation that he needed to push himself past the limit.

He couldn't help but grunt, and continue to do so as the green shield appeared around them, and held steadily.

"DRIVE TUCKER!" Sam growled at him.

"We're so outta here!" the African-American said with a grin, and he pushed the petal to the floor. They'd left the ghosts behind in seconds.

Walker stopped his posse, and floated there, glowering. "I will get you, ghost kid...Mark my words...I WILL."

* * *

A lot of you have commented on the whole "Seeing into the soul" thing, and I wanted to thank you for that, because it was a last minute thing that I added.

Spooks: Well, I like doing that, because it breaks up the monotony of pronouns, and using their names all the time. Drives me nuts when people do that, so I add in the occasional reference to them other than their name. I'll try and get it a little lighter, but don't expect it to disappear alltogether. It's just how I write.

Thank you everyone for reading this. :hug: It means a lot to me.


	28. Retained Traits

As soon as they lost sight of the ghosts, Danny dropped the shield and collapsed, reverting to his human form.

"Ouch," was all he could comment to Sam before closing his eyes and resting.

"Well," she commented wryly. "We've been here before."

"Huh?" Tucker asked.

Sam simply shook her head with a smile and nodded towards the exhausted Danny.

"Oh," he replied, matching her smile.

A little under 20 minutes later, they reached the porthole, and zoomed through. Danny awoke with the jerk of the Speeder stopping and shook the sleep from his eyes.

"I'm taking Jazz to her room," he said as the blue rings appeared again. "Close the door and meet me there...please." He then grabbed a magnifying glass, and floated through the ceiling, holding Jazz carefully in tow. Sam and Tucker glanced at each other as he left, and followed his instructions with a sigh.

Meanwhile, Danny phased them into her room, and laid her gently on the bed. Then he held up the magnifying glass. He figured if he could use it to diffuse his power, he could also use it to focus, like he used to with sunlight and ants when he was little.

After a little experimenting around, he finally found a way to work his theory, and focused it on the lock of the collar. It fell off soon after, and he lifted it gently from under her before holding it up triumphantly.

"Thanks," Jazz said from her pillow. "I really hated that thing." Danny grinned and set it down. She looked like she'd gone through a wind storm. Her hair had fallen out, and the headband now rested around her neck, far more loosely now that the collar had been removed. Her skin had taken on a grey shade, but he could already see the color coming back.

"How is she?" Sam asked, coming in the door, Tucker on her heels.

Danny turned with a grin and glanced at them. "She seems fine to me."

"Good," Sam folded her arms and leaned against the wall. "Because you do realize that your parents are out hunting ghosts madly through the town while trying to find you, right?"

Danny couldn't help but smile. "They are?" He shook his head. "Why am I not surprised?" He stood and smiled down at his sister. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"My hair fell out," she groaned and tried unsuccessfully to comb her hand through the tangled mess on her head. "But other than that, I feel really tired."

"That sounds familiar," Danny shrugged with a smile.

Jazz responded with a sigh. "You'd better call Mom and Dad before they hurt someone."

"Right," Danny said with a nod and ushered the others out of the room. "Oh, and Jazz," he said just before he shut the door. "Thanks." He didn't see her warm, contented smile as she drifted into a peaceful slumber.

xoxoxox

"So," Tucker walked up behind Danny, causing his friend to jump slightly. "You back up to full strength?"

"Hello to you too," Danny growled jokingly before his mood sobered. "Full strength and full responsibility," he hung his head in a far more somber mood. "But," he nodded as Sam joined them, "it is nice to be able to stand up without help, and even though I slept through most of the last few days, I missed flying.

"Although," he looked down at his hand, "it's weird...I think I picked up something from Jazz..."

Sam raised her eyebrow in curiosity. "Why? What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well," Danny said slowly, "Jazz gave Dad a complete psycho-analyzation this morning...and...I...er...actually found it interesting."

"Woah," his friends responded at the same time.

"And," he continued as if he hadn't heard them. "I made sure I had time to study last night because I...well, I wanted to..." He suddenly realized that the spaces on either side of him were empty and turned to see Sam and Tucker staring at him with shocked expressions.

"You..." Sam started.

Tucker finished for her,"...Studied?"

Danny glared at them. "At least," he said flatly, "Mom and dad are off me being the ghost. They studied my blood and didn't even find any ectoplasmic residue. Unfortunately, they've turned their attention back to Jazz."

"Why?" Sam asked, shaking off her surprised.

"Well," Danny grinned, "she's been acting a little strange lately too. I think she picked up some of my traits."

"Like what?" Tucker asked.

Danny shrugged. "Why don't you ask her yourself? Hey Jazz!" He waved his sister over, and she complied slowly.

"Woah," Sam commented. "You look awful." Dark circles outlined her tired, blood-shot eyes, and she slumped through the halls as if in a trance. "Still recovering from the zap that the Fenton Feeler gave you?"

"Not really," she blinked at them through her heavy eyelids.

Sam and Tucker glanced at each other. "What then?" Tucker asked.

"Are you sick?"

"No," Jazz replied, covering a yawn with her hand. "I was up almost all night playing Doomed 2. That's why I'm so tired." A sudden thump stopped her from saying more, and she looked down to see Tucker had once again fallen to the floor. Sam, however stood there, with an expression of shock that put all the others to shame.

"See," Jazz glanced slyly at Danny. "I told you only Tucker would faint. You owe me five bucks."

"Aw Man!" Danny growled and folded his arms in a huff.

* * *

THE END! Woot! Hope you guys liked it! It might take me a while to get my next story up, and I'm revising Brainwashed...so yeah. Anywho, REPLY"S ROCK!


End file.
